Nottingham Forest manager Sabri Lamouchi says his side "must keep working" after he picked up September's Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Month award.
Maximum points across the three games has helped to move Forest into the top-two at the second international break of the season.
Lamouchi's side managed to navigate through a tricky away tie at Swansea with a 1-0 victory, also securing the points by the same scoreline at home to Barnsley.
They were then on the right side of a five-goal thriller as they beat Stoke 3-2 thanks to goals from Joe Lolley, Sammy Ameobi and Lewis Grabban.
Speaking exclusively to Sporting Life after picking up the award, Lamouchi said: "I'm so happy for this because I think the players deserve this recognition.
"It's for me today, but at the end, they did a great job on the pitch and September was an amazing month for us.
"From the beginning, I'm so surprised but I'm so, so happy and I want to say thanks to the club for giving me this opportunity.
"Thanks to the fans for being very close to the team and thanks for my staff, of course, for working hard, but especially the players.
"The players, I'm so happy to work with them. We are just at the beginning but the beginning is really important. I know the trip will be long, very long, and tough, very tough, but we must enjoy this positive time.
"We are happy and we must keep working."
Following their bright start to the campaign, Forest have been shortened to 9/2 by Sky Bet for promotion to the Premier League.
Excitement is all around the City Ground following a particularly strong September, but Lamouchi is keen to stress that he will be taking it one game at a time.
"The manager that I am, I can not think about eight months," he explained.
"The next game, the next two, three or five games maybe but not more.
"The problems, they are now and you must find the solutions now, not the solutions after eight months.
"This is the problem for the old managers (of the club) - time. The results give you more time, not too much, but more time."
Forest is Lamouchi's first job in England and the former Ivory Coast and Stade Rennais boss is keen to ensure that his side remain focused as the season progresses.
While they may be second in the standings, Lamouchi is under no illusions as to the competitive nature of the division and the task ahead of them.
"I'm new in England," he continued. "The Championship is new for me and new for my staff.
"Fortunately at the club, we found competent people and smart people who help us a lot and also the players.
"My management is very simple. I want to be close to the players, I want to be honest with them, I want to be strict but not too strict.
"I know what I want, I know what I don't want and the players, they need to know. We have some priorities and until now we have found the right way but it is so fragile so we need to keep working and keep going.
"But always work hard because nobody can say what will happen in this league. Everybody can beat everybody so until now, I don't remember one easy game.
"We beat Birmingham 3-0 at home but it was easier there at the end, not at the beginning. We made it easy but all the games have been very tough."
Odds correct as of 1400 BST on 10/10/19
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