Rotherham United's Neil Warnock and Barnsley's Paul Heckingbottom win manager awards

Rotherham’s Neil Warnock has taken the Championship manager of the month award for March and Barnsley’s Paul Heckingbottom takes the equivalent Sky Bet award in League One.

Warnock’s Millers secured 10 points from four games during March to move away from the relegation zone, secruing wins over promotion-chasing Yorkshire duo Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday in the process.

Caretaker Barnsley chief Heckingbottom steered the Reds towards the play-off places – taking 13 points from six games with the help of four clean sheets – ahead of their Johnstone’s Paint Trophy 3-2 final victory over Oxford at Wembley.

They were last night hailed by the ‘flat cap army’ when they paraded the Trophy at Barnsley town hall.

Barnsley had been cheered on by more than 24,000 supporters at Wembley, many of whom wore traditional Yorkshire flat caps for the occasion.

Of his award, Warnock said:“The players have done a tremendous job and so have the staff and I’d like to give special mentions to (assistant manager) Kevin Blackwell and (coach) Ronnie Jepson.

“We won’t stop here and it’s important to keep that momentum going that we’ve built up over the last month. We’ll need to continue this string of form from now until the end of the season.”

George Burley, chairman of the judging panel, said of Warnock: “Neil has had a great month taking 10 points from four games, all against teams chasing promotion.

“Since taking charge at Rotherham he has changed their season around, pushing them out of the relegation places towards safety, which looked impossible a few months ago.”