Doncaster Rovers progressed through to the Third Round thanks to a brace from Mulligan.
Mulligan magic
Monday, 12 December 2005.
Doncaster Rovers’ Dave Mulligan has booked his place at The FA Cup final after winning the ‘Player of the Round’ award for the Second Round of the competition.
After a week of voting Dave scooped the award, receiving 33 per cent of the 53,000 votes cast on The FA.com. Closely chasing Mulligan for most of the week was Chester’s Ryan Lowe who ended with 22 per cent of the vote.
Mansfield Town’s Richie Barker with 21 per cent, Tamworth’s Matt Redmile with 15 per cent and Stevenage Borough’s Alan Julian with 9 per cent were also in the running for the award.
Some fans did get caught up in the magic of The FA Cup competition and became a little bit over enthusiastic over the weekend as they tried to place thousands of extra votes for the players.
However, The FA closely monitored the skullduggery and rooted out the rogue votes to find the true winner. Mulligan’s blistering free kick double fired Rovers into The FA Cup third round after a 2 – 1 win over Boston and earned him the Player of the Round nomination from Radio 5 Live’s Mark Clemmit.
Doncaster Rovers Chief Executive Dave Morris said the club is looking forward to a third round tie away to Port Vale or Bristol Rovers. “Either game will be a tough one away from home but we have been doing well in the cups this season so we can’t wait to get stuck in. Dave Mulligan had a great game against Boston. To come on out of position and score two excellent free kicks was fantastic and I am delighted that he won the award.”
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, Dave wins £1000 worth of UMBRO football kit for a local school, club or organisation of his choice.
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 alongside non-league players, including Jose Antonio Reyes, Freddie Ljungberg, Shay Given and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Gosport Borough’s Jamie Laidlaw, Northwich Victoria’s Paul Brayson (who has won the award twice this season), Leamington’s Alex Rodman and Eastbourne Borough’s Stuart Tuck are already in this season’s Team of The FA Cup, having won previous Player of the Round awards.