Brayson scored a hat-trick in Northwich Victoria’s 4 – 1 FA Cup Second Qualifying Round win over Frickley Athletic, earning the Conference North pace setters a Third Qualifying Round home tie against North Ferriby.

Brayson polled 45 per cent of the 10,079 votes cast on The FA.com, beating Enfield Town’s Russell Penn (32%), Cray Wanderers’ Jamie Wood (8%), Solihull Borough’s Jamie Petty (8%) and Tiverton Town’s Mike Booth (7%).

Northwich Victoria secretary Derek Nuttall said Paul thoroughly deserved the award, and thanked the thousands of fans who voted for him.

“Paul’s in breathtaking form at the moment and, following his FA Cup hat-trick, scored a superb league goal against Kettering on Saturday, which means he’s now scored 13 goals in 11 games this season. 

“This award will mean a huge amount to him and to everyone associated with the club and is a real confidence-booster ahead of The FA Cup tie against North Ferriby this weekend.”

In addition to being crowned FA Cup Player of the Round, which guarantees attendance at The FA Cup final and a half-time introduction to the crowd, Paul wins £1000 worth of UMBRO football kit for a local school, club or organisation of his choice.

A team of panelists nominates players for the award. The panellists include Radio 5 Live’s Mark Clemmit, The Daily Telegraph’s Ricky George, Sky Sports’ Jeff Stelling, David Watters, news editor of The Non League Paper and FA Chief Executive Brian Barwick.

Gosport Borough’s Jamie Laidlaw is already in this season’s Team of The FA Cup, having won the First Qualifying Round Award.

The Team of The FA Cup comprises Player of the Round winners from the First Qualifying Round to the Semi Final. In the last two years several Premiership players have featured in the team alongside non-league players, including Jose Antonio Reyes, Freddie Ljungberg, Shay Given and Ruud van Nistelrooy.