AIDAN Connolly is heading The Press Player of the Month contest for January.

The 22-year-old attacker holds a one-point lead over Adam Bartlett, having won three as The Press man of the match for last weekend’s 2-1 home victory over Bradford Park Avenue.

Connolly went on to collect the two Player of the Month bonus points after receiving the most man-of-the-match votes from our Twitter poll.

Former Darlington shot-stopper Bartlett (two points) and skipper Sean Newton (one) were also recognised as our second and third-highest rated performers respectively.

Bartlett emulated Connolly by picking up a maximum five points for his man-of-the-match display during Tuesday night’s 5-3 triumph at Telford.

The other points were awarded to Raul Correia (two) and Simon Heslop (one).

Newton, meanwhile, has now been credited with City’s third goal at Telford after it was initially reported as a Ryan Leak own goal.

The captain has also overtaken long-time assists table leader Louis Almond, having teed up goals for team-mates against Bradford Park Avenue and Telford.

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The Press Player of the Year standings: Parkin 31, Connolly 16, Newton 16, Law 14, Parslow 10, Worsnop 10, Almond 9, Bencherif 9, Moke 9, Whittle 9, Bartlett 8, Morgan-Smith 8, Pattison 8, Heslop 7, Ferguson 4, Rankine 3, Rowe 3, Correia 2, Martin 2, Burn 1, Smith 1.

The Press Player of the Month standings for January: Connolly 8, Bartlett 7, Pattison 6, Parkin 3, Correia 2, Ferguson 2, Morgan-Smith 2, Heslop 1, Newton 1.

Goals: Parkin 25, Newton 7, Morgan-Smith 5, Heslop 3, Almond 2, Connolly 2, Moke 2, Parslow 2, Rankine 2, Burn 1, Correia 1, Felix 1, Ferguson 1, Law 1, Martin 1, Own Goal 1, Rowe 1.

Assists: Newton 8, Almond 7, Connolly 6, Parslow 5, Law 4, Morgan-Smith 4, Parkin 4, Gray 3, Heslop 3, Martin 3, Whittle 3, Ferguson 2, Bencherif 1, Correia 1, Felix 1, Moke 1, Peacock-Farrell 1, Worsnop 1.

Bad boys: Rowe five yellow; Bencherif one red, three yellow; Heslop one red card, two yellow; Burn, Connolly, Newton, Wharton, Worsnop all two yellow; Ferguson one red; Gray, Law, Moke, Smith, Whittle all one yellow.