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I don't think there was any doubting Eagles' right to top billing after another excellent performance, particularly in the second half when the Clarets got into the game more. He won first place in the man of the match vote having polled 52.8% of that vote.
Paterson grabbed the equaliser and turned in another of the sort of performances that persuaded Owen Coyle to spend over £1 million on him. He came second with 22.4% of the vote whilst Steven Thompson, on as a sub to score the winner, came third having taken 5.8% of the vote.
It was the same top two in the player ratings. Eagles was a the top with a rating of 9.00 out of 10 whilst Paterson's rating was 8.63. That was just enough to finish above Steven Caldwell whose outstanding performance in the centre of defence earned him a rating of 8.61 out of ten.
Eagles wins six points, Paterson four and there's one each for Caldwell and Thompson. The points make no difference to the Player of the Season table in terms of position but the top two are now beginning to put some daylight between them and the rest of the players.
It is Paterson who leads going into Christmas with Eagles second and Chris McCann third. A year ago it looked all so different with a top three of Robbie Blake, David Unsworth and Clarke Carlisle. Eventual winner Wade Elliott was in fifth place but with some ground to make up.
Please note: Voting for the Barnsley game man of the match will start on Boxing Day evening and will run through to the end of Monday 29th December. The poll for the Doncaster game will follow on Tuesday 30th and will extend to the end of Thursday 1st January.
The current table is
49: Martin Paterson
44: Chris Eagles
37: Chris McCann
33: Steven Caldwell
27: Stephen Jordan
26: Graham Alexander & Brian Jensen
24: Robbie Blake
23: Wade Elliott
16: Kevin McDonald
15: Clarke Carlisle
12: Michael Duff
9: Russell Anderson
5: Joey Gudjonsson & Christian Kalvenes
4: Steven Thompson