Motherwell captain Keith Lasley believes Stuart McCall deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Derek McInnes when nominations for the managerial prizes are announced.
McInnes is the odds-on favourite to sweep the board after guiding Aberdeen to their first trophy in 19 years with Sunday's League Cup win.
The Aberdeen manager has also taken his team into second spot in the Scottish Premiership and face a William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final showdown with St Johnstone next month.
But Lasley insists the job done by McCall is just as impressive.
The former Scotland midfielder was named last year's SPL Manager of the Year after leading Motherwell to the runner's up slot and is on course for a third top-three finish in as many years.
Lasley said: "I think the gaffer deserves to be mentioned among the runners for the managerial awards. I thought the same last year.
"It's all relative. Derek McInnes has done a great job. There have been plenty of managers who have gone to Aberdeen in recent years with the same budgets and not succeeded, so he is certainly doing something right.
"They will be favourites to finish second and are still in the Scottish Cup as well, so Derek will be a contender when the awards come round.
"But from my point of view, I know the gaffer here has a tough job in terms of budget constraints and the size of club we are compared to your Aberdeens and Dundee Uniteds.
"So it has to be commended the level of consistency that has been shown here and the gaffer needs to take a big chunk of that credit."
The Fir Park side take on Inverness on Wednesday just three days after the Highlanders suffered penalty shout-out agony against Aberdeen.
But Lasley does not think the pain of losing out on the club's first-ever major trophy will stop Caley Thistle from putting up a fight at Fir Park.
Speaking ahead of the Premiership meeting, the 34-year-old said: "Hopefully going to extra-time will have a big effect on the Inverness players but I'm sure they will be up for Wednesday's game.
"There will obviously be a lot of disappointment in the Caley ranks. But it would have been different if Aberdeen had ran over the top of them and won 3-0 or 4-0.
"They were right in the game throughout and it could have gone either way, so they will recover by Wednesday.
"In some ways, John Hughes will be like that fact that his side can get out there again rather than being left to stew on it for a week.
"Inverness still have plenty to play for and I'm sure Yogi [manager John Hughes] will be reiterating that before the game. They are in a great position and having a fantastic season.
"There will be plenty of motivation there and we can't take it for granted that just because they have had a hard time at the weekend we can turn up and get a result."
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