The November winners of the Sky Bet EFL Goal of the Month Award are:
Sky Bet Championship
Mateusz Klich – LEEDS UNITED v Middlesbrough – 30th November
Leeds United midfielder Mateusz Klich is the Sky Bet Championship Goal of the Month winner for November, receiving 75% of the public vote.
As he shaped to shoot from outside the box, Middlesbrough knew what Klich was about to try. Yet they couldn’t stop him because the late curl on his shot was judged to perfection.
Klich said: “I am delighted win the award - I think a lot of Leeds fans voted, so I’d like to thank them.
“We had worked on short corners in training and I’m glad that the hard work paid off."
Lead Sky Bet EFL Goal of the Month judge and Sky Sports Pundit Don Goodman said: “Mateusz Klich doesn’t score many goals, but when he does, they’re often special. This curler was no different as he added his second of the game and put the icing on the cake of the 4-0 drubbing of Middlesbrough.
“Already full of confidence from his earlier effort, he knew what he wanted to do as soon as the ball was rolled to him on the edge of the area, and the execution of the shot could hardly have been more precise.”
Klich beat off competition from West Bromwich Albion’s Matheus Pereira and Stoke City’s Sam Clucas.
Sky Bet League One
Joe Ward – PETERBOROUGH UNITED v Burton Albion – 23rd November
Peterborough United midfielder Joe Ward is the Sky Bet League One Goal of the Month winner for October, receiving 46% of the public vote.
Ward takes the award for the second successive month, this time with an injury-time winner as he took it upon himself to drive a rising shot from distance into the roof of the net
Ward said: “It is great to have won the Goal of the Month for the second successive month.
“This particular goal was a special one, probably my favourite, not just because of the strike but the fact it won us the three points so late in the game.
“It sat up lovely for me and it was special seeing it rifle into the top corner.”
Lead Sky Bet EFL Goal of the Month judge and Sky Sports Pundit Don Goodman said: “It’s extremely unusual for a player to be nominated in back-to-back months, but It was impossible to leave out Joe Ward again after his match-winning thunderbolt that almost tore the net from the goal posts such was the power it was struck with.
“It had been an evenly balanced encounter with a both sides limited to few clear-cut chances, but Ward’s effort was the difference and brought an end to a spirited resistance from Kieran O’Hara in the Burton net – it was a strike fit to win any game.”
Ward beat off competition from Rotherham United’s Matt Crooks and Coventry City’s Liam Walsh.
Sky Bet League Two
Alex Gilliead – Leyton Orient v SCUNTHORPE UNITED – 16th November
Scunthorpe United forward Alex Gilliead is the Sky Bet League Two Goal of the Month winner for November, receiving 51% of the public vote.
Gillead positioned himself on the edge of the Orient area at a corner. His instincts proved true as the ball came out to him, giving him time to arrow home an unstoppable rising shot.
Gilliead said: "I’m over the moon. It’s always nice to be recognised for goals and, as I’ve said before, I need to be scoring goals and getting assists too. Whether it’s good ones like against Leyton Orient or whether it’s a tap in, I don’t mind so long as they go in.
“With it going into the top corner, it was probably the best goal I’ve scored but I also caught the one against Forest Green (three weeks later) sweet too. I’m just happy to be recognised for it, and hopefully there’s more to come.”
Lead Sky Bet EFL Goal of the Month judge and Sky Sports Pundit Don Goodman said: “So often when the ball drops to the edge of the area from a corner there is a disappointing swing at the ball and it flies wildly over the bar, but when the ball dropped to Alex Gilliead he had different ideas, and his touch and controlled drive into the top corner were perfection.
“Despite having fewer chances in the game, Scunthorpe’s clinical finishing made Orient pay as they moved to within two points of their opponents in the League two table.”
Gilliead beat off competition from Morecambe’s AJ Leitch-Smith and Colchester United’s Brandon Comley.