Declan McManus is Ladbrokes player of the month for January in Falkirk clean sweep

McManus took the League One title in 2015 with Morton and was part of Ross County’s Championship triumph last season.

Now the 25-year-old sharp-shooter is gunning to take Falkirk back to the second tier having had a new lease of life under the co-bosses who replaced Ray McKinnon last November.

McManus has slammed 10 goals in that period including four in January to win the Ladbrokes League One player of the month.

Miller and McCracken have also been honoured n the Manager of the Month category with four wins in the month to move a point behind Raith Rovers.

McManus, hoping to add to his tally at Stranraer tomorrow, said: “I played against Lee for a good few years and I always liked him as a player.

“His game was a lot different to mine being a bigger guy but he’s been brilliant for me since he and David have taken over.

“He believes in what I can do, He knows that I’ll get chances in games and it’s nice that people have that belief in you.”

McManus has extended his loan deal until the end of the season when his Dingwall contract expires so he’s playing for his future.

The 25-year-old said: “Once I had worked out, I wasn’t going to play much at County and being in the last year of my contract, I knew I had to get my name back out there.

“Scoring goals is my bread and butter so the plan was to go to Falkirk and score as many as possible and help them win the league.

“Hopefully I can manage to do that. So far it’s going well with 19 and I’m looking to add as many goals as I can.

“This division is tight with three or four teams involved but we know what we’ve got in that dressing room.

“I don’t think we were performing as well as we could earlier in the season but we’ve got it right now and long may that continue.

“Falkirk are a very big club and you can see that every other week with the thousands that come to back us.

“So we’re doing everything we can to fire the club back up to the Championship. Hopefully this can be my third title – that would be nice.”

The Bairns have also got the exciting prospect of a Scottish Cup clash with Hearts next Saturday night.

Co-boss Miller said: “We’re in a good place now. The response from the players, the fans, the board has been first class.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better start to our managerial careers.

“We’ve got a real fighting spirit and a togetherness about the squad and it’s been really good to see.

“I had a good chat with the forward players because we felt we should be doing better and everyone has responded, especially Declan.

“I think he feels more settled and it’s a good fit for both parties.”