NEALE Cooper is in the frame for his first managerial award tomorrow.

The Hartlepool boss could be named Division Two manager of the month when the announcement is made tomorrow.

It looks like a choice between Cooper and Tranmere's Brian Little, who went unbeaten during April and earned one point more than Pool with five wins a a draw.

But Cooper should, according to one pundit, be awarded a bigger honour this season.

Rodney Marsh sang Cooper's praises in his weekly newspaper column at the weekend, labelling the Pool boss "this season's unsung hero in management".

Marsh teams up with presenter and Pool fan Jeff Stelling every week on Sky Sports and the former QPR and Man City showman said: "Jeff has been telling me for months what a fantastic job he is doing at Victoria Park - and he is dead right.

"For years Pool were the Cinderella club, even when they went up 12 months ago they were favourites for relegation.

"But Cooper and his No 2 Martin Scott have proved the critics wrong and established themselves as one of the most promising managerial partnerships in the country.

"If they do take Hartlepool into Division One, it will be an achievement that eclipses anything Wimbledon or Crewe have done in recent seasons.''

Stelling will be back in his hometown to present the player of the year awards on Tuesday, May 11.

* Cooper revealed Eifion Williams (leg), Chris Westwood (knee) and Tony Sweeney (thigh) all suffered injuries in Saturday's defeat to Plymouth.

* Plymouth boss Bobby Williamson said: "We owed it to the other teams in the play-off race to put in a performance, and we did.

"Hartlepool had won their last five games and were in good form, but we coped well with them. The result and the performance is typical of the fantastic work ethic there is at this club.

* Cooper is on Jonathon Pearce's Football Night on BBC Radio Five Live at around 8.30pm tonight.

Read more about Hartlepool here.