Coventry City's Franck Moussa wins Mitre Goal of the Year award...
Coventry City's Franck Moussa has won the Mitre Goal of the Year Award at The Football League Awards 2014.
Moussa received the award at the gala ceremony at The Brewery, London, on Sunday evening in front of over 600 guests from clubs, sponsors and the football industry.
This year a total of 36 clubs were shortlisted for 17 awards and Moussa beat competition from Paddy McCourt (for his goal for Barnsley against Middlesbrough), Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (for his goal for Bristol City against Bristol Rovers), James Poole (for his goal for Hartlepool United against Notts County) and Troy Deeney (for his goal for Watford against Leicester City), to claim the Mitre Goal of the Year Award.
The 24-year-old Coventry City man's spectacular strike in the Sky Blues' 3-1 win over Leyton Orient saw him run at the opposition defence before dinking an outrageous chip over Orient goalkeeper Jamie Jones from just inside the area.
On winning the award, Moussa said:
“I actually thought the Troy Deeney goal was going to win, and I’ve also seen Jay Emmanuel-Thomas score some great goals so I wasn't thinking I would pick up the award.
“I definitely meant it. I got into the box, saw a gap open up and it was a deliberate shot. It dropped in the back of the net even more beautifully than I imagined.
“I’ve scored a goal that I would say is even better against Preston North End two months ago, so hopefully with some luck I might be back here in 12 months.”
During 2013, 4,435 goals were scored in Football League competitions. To find the best, each Football League club was asked to nominate their best goal from the 2013 calendar year. In conjunction with the presenters and viewers of Sky Sports’ Soccer AM, these were then been narrowed down to a shortlist of five contenders, with the overall winner being decided by attendee votes on the night.
Shaun Harvey, Chief Executive of The Football League, said:
"The Football League Awards 2014 has given us the opportunity to reward outstanding achievement, both on and off the pitch, by Football League clubs.
"Every one of tonight's winners is a worthy recipient of their award and all the other nominees have helped set an exceptional standard this year.
"It has been a tremendous celebration of life in The Football League."
The Awards were streamed live on The Football League's official YouTube and Facebook pages, as well as official club websites and YouTube channels for the first time ever.
To find out more about The Football League Awards, and for a full list of Award categories, please visit www.FLAwards.com.