AITOR KARANKA has described January as his ‘best month’ since taking over at Middlesbrough after capping it off by landing his first Sky Bet Championship manager of the month award.

Attacking midfielder Lee Tomlin was also crowned the player of the month for his performances in helping to put Boro firmly back in the race for a top two spot.

And a satisfied Karanka believes the double provides proof of his side’s progress and development ahead of the final few months of the campaign.

Middlesbrough will look to start February in the perfect manner when Charlton head for Teesside tomorrow, but the head coach has admitted the last month will take some beating.

His team picked up ten points from the 12 available to them, while he also had an incredible 2-0 victory over the Premier League champions to savour at Manchester City in the FA Cup.

Karanka said: “I think it is the best month so far, especially when, in the middle, we played against Man City. It wasn't our most important win, because I prefer to win the games in the league, but obviously everybody around the world could watch the game and see our performance.

“To be nominated with Tommo means they have recognised us as a team. You always have people behind you to help you achieve your targets. I think it is an important award, of course.”

Winners of the manager of the month in the past have often seen form suffer but the Spaniard has no such concerns after claiming the gong at the third time of asking ahead of Derby’s Steve McClaren, Leeds’ Neil Redfearn and Brentford’s Mark Warburton.

He said: “If I win the trophy, and win the following game, then it is because we have worked hard all week to win that game. If I work all week and we lose the game then I didn’t prepare the team well for the game ... I think! It’s not a curse.”

Tomlin, a former Peterborough forward, was a key player during Middlesbrough’s excellent run. He scored three goals in four appearances. He also stunned Manchester City with a fantastic display at the Etihad Stadium – and Karanka has urged him to build on his January performances by proving he can play to a greater level.

“With him on the pitch, when he has the ball something can happen,” said Karanka. “He is the kind of player who knows football. When he plays well he makes things happen. He is important when he is playing in the way he is playing now.

“He arrived here just one year ago but this year he has improved a lot. It's not a surprise to me because he is a very good player but he needed to do his best because playing in League One is not the same as the Championship.

“If he wants to play in the Premier League he has to continue in the same way because he is capable of playing at a high level.”

Tomlin edged out Watford striker Odion Ighalo, Leeds’ Luke Murphy and Wolves defender Richard Stearman for the January award. It is the first time Boro have claimed a player-manager double since Tony Mowbray and Matthew Bates were honoured in September 2011.

The 26-year-old also caught the attention this week for a cheeky tweet to Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany – and the champions’ captain has seen the funny side.

Tomlin has had almost 30,000 retweets for stating: “My washing machine was making loads of noise, I opened it and Kompany crawled out. I must have left him in my back pocket #banter.”

Kompany was asked about it. He said: “It’s a brilliant tweet. I’m not annoyed at all. If you go through my Twitter line, you get the odd United fan that say a lot more horrible things than that so this is fine.”

Middlesbrough will have Tomas Kalas, on loan from Chelsea, available again after missing the last two matches with an ankle knock. The game is too soon for Mustapha Carayol, who was due to play for the Under-21s yesterday but the game was postponed.