CITY today swept the board for the League One monthly awards as both Phil Parkinson and Rory McArdle picked up accolades for the recent hot run.

Parkinson, who yesterday secured Jon Stead on loan until the end of May, was named the Sky Bet top manager for December and centre half Rory McArdle took the divisional prize for the best player.

It is the seventh time that Parkinson has won the monthly management title and second as City boss. He also received a special merit award from the League Managers’ Association after taking the club to Wembley twice in the same season.

But he deflected the praise on to McArdle, who he called “one of the key characters in the dressing room.”

Parkinson said: “Rory’s been terrific ever since he came to the club. It’s quite rare for defenders to have the athleticism he’s got and he covers the ground and makes blocks because of that.

“It’s not often that defenders get awards. The strikers get the headlines but I know supporters appreciate Rory’s honesty and commitment.

“He’s a good age for a centre half and his best years are still ahead of him. It’s so important to get players in the club who are driven and want to be the best they can and Rory is certainly one of those.

“It’s always nice to get recognition and for both of us to win something is good for the club.

“We know it’s a team effort. We’re picking these up on behalf of the rest of the team and coaching staff.

“But we now draw a line through it and move on. Now we’ve got another great exciting period of games coming up.”

Stead, whose contract at Huddersfield runs out in the summer, cemented his short-term future at Valley Parade after four goals in 14 appearances on loan.

Having already secured Ben Williams and Filipe Morais this month, Parkinson sees the experienced striker as another building block.

He added: “It was always high on our list to get Jon signed up. Not only has he played well himself, he’s affected other players in the squad.

“His professionalism and attitude on the training pitch is so important to our young players.

“They are three big signings for us and add to the honesty in the camp. The more players you’ve got like that, the more chance you have of winning games consistently.”

City go into tomorrow’s home clash with Rochdale in a position of strength as they look to extend the ten-match unbeaten sequence. It is a far more settled picture compared with the last January transfer window, which was dominated by the sale of Nahki Wells.

Parkinson said: “We had a lot of disruption with the Nahki situation. That wasn’t just January but leading up to that. We had Nahki wanting to get away, we also had injury problems and we struggled because we were in a new division.

“No one will be going (this year) as far as I’m concerned. Our aim is to at least keep the strength of the squad as it is.

“When Jon walked back in the building yesterday, it gave the rest of the lads a lift. To have him, Ben Williams and Filipe signed up is a boost for all of us.

“We’ve got a good spirit in the camp and we want to keep everybody together.”

City are targeting their first double of the season against Dale after winning 2-0 at Spotland at the start of the season. Mark Yeates is set to return after missing the last two games with a knee injury.

Parkinson expects a tough ride against Keith Hill’s men and warned: “They are a high energy team and we’re going to have to be right at our best to match that.

"They’ve got young legs in the team and close down all over the pitch. They play the division well.

“We had a good game against them at their place. We started quickly ourselves and met them head on and wore them down in the end.

“We know that nothing less than a repeat of that will be good enough.”