Institute defender Shaun Leppard is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association's Championship Player of the Month for November.

The big centre-back was a driving force for ‘Stute as they completed November by winning all three games in the Playr-Fit Championship.

The North-West side defeated Portadown, Ballyclare Comrades and Ballinamallard United – with Leppard helping Kevin Deery’s men to keep two clean sheets and chipping in with a goal in the process.

He said: “The turnaround at the club compared to last season has been massive.

“Nobody probably expected it but I just hope we keep it going now over the Christmas period, which is going to be tough.

“The boys that we’ve signed have all played together at under-age level and it has helped us to gel really quickly.

“I think they’ve took the league by storm and nobody really expected it.

“Teams are starting to fear us a little bit which is a nice change compared to being on the other side of it last year.”