Martin Allen shrugged off the absence of any Gillingham players among the League 2 player-of-the-year nominations.

The division’s 25-goal leading scorer, Port Vale’s Tom Pope, lifted the award in London on Sunday, holding off the challenge of Jamie Cureton (Exeter) and Gary Jones (Bradford). The award is voted for by League 2 managers.

He said: “I really don’t care and I have no interest in awards. When they come our way, we share it among ourselves and the manager-of-the-month thing I got has been given to the kit man because everyone plays their part. There are no stars here.

“We are a down to earth, humble group of people. We all look after and support each other and work hard together.

“If the other managers have not picked our players out I think that’s a kind of a backhanded compliment to what we’ve actually done. We do not concede any goals and we win a lot of games.

“None of our players are in the top three? Hello. Fantastic. What a great compliment that is to our club.”