FC Isle of Man footballer Charlie Higgins has been named as the North West Counties League Premier Division Player of the Month Award for December.

This is the first time that he has won this award, with the last Ravens player to win Sean Doyle in August 2024.

Announcing the news, the NWCFL website said: ‘Charlie has been with FC Isle of Man since the start of the 2021/22 season. He has made coming up to 150 appearances for the Ravens in that time and scoring 53 goals.

‘This season has seen the 22-year-old really step up with 20 goals in 25 appearances.

‘The opening game of the month for Charlie was at home to Irlam at the start of the month. He was alert from the second minute when he shot across goal and opened the scoring on 17 minutes with a low shot into the corner.

‘He caused chaos in the box just before half-time which led to a disallowed goal, and restored his team’s lead in the 71st minute from the penalty spot when he found the corner.

‘The only downside to Charlie's day in the 2-2 draw was hitting another penalty against the crossbar for his hat-trick, but he was consoled after the game when he was awarded the man of the match.

‘Next was another home game against AFC Liverpool. He scored the second goal of the game when he danced his way through the Liverpool defence and fired home, and scrambled home the fourth goal from a corner with 20 minutes remaining.

‘Once again, Charlie was rewarded for his performance with the man of the match award.

‘Third up was an away game at Glossop North End just before Christmas. He had a couple of efforts at the start of the second half that were hit over, then found the net in the 86th minute with the Ravens vital third goal as Dean Pinnington sent him clear. They won that match 2-1.

‘The final game was a home game against Stockport Town, which was a day to forget overall as Isle of Man went down to a 0-4 defeat.

‘For Charlie though, his performance was marked with his third man of the match award of the month. Remarkably, it was his 13th of the season and his fifth in the last six games.

‘Four games, five goals and three man of the match wins is certainly a great return for Charlie during the month.’

Reacting to the award, a delighted Higgins told the Examiner: ‘Winning this award is a great personal achievement for me as it’s something I’ve been working towards for the past few months. But it’s all down to the team - if I didn’t receive the service from the boys, then I wouldn’t be in the positions I am.

‘I’ve had an unbelievable experience in the past four years with this club and we have achieved a lot of success, especially in the first season. Throughout my time as a whole there has been a few up and downs but I do believe we’re coming back to where we were at the beginning.

‘I think this season was about rebuilding and getting to terms with the league we’re in. We’ve had a few changes as we’ve started to play more on the front foot and I do believe we are just getting started again as a football club.’