The Iron Vault: International Players #2

Today's Iron Vault article sees us look back to an international Scunthorpe United player, who made an appearance for his country while on the books with United.

At the time of writing, in total, the Iron have had 15 full internationally capped players make appearances for their country during their time with the club, totalling 43 caps.

We continue the feature by taking a look at the man who is second overall with four appearances and three goals to his name while on the books at United, David Mulligan.

The full-back had already been used by the All Blacks since 2002 with his first involvement coming in an international friendly away in Estonia in December 2002. The side lost 3-2, but it would be Mulligan's first cap, playing the full 90 minutes. Further caps would come against Poland, Scotland and the United States of America in further friendlies over the course of the next year.

When things got competitive in 2003, he was an unused substitute on four occasions in the Confederations Cup, losing three out of three against Japan, Colombia and France before he returned to the line-up in May 2004 for his first slice of competitive international action. That came in World Cup Qualifying as he played the full game in a 1-0 defeat against Australia. Two days later and he'd be part of his first competitive win; a 5-0 victory over the Solomon Islands.

When he joined the Iron, he had already added a further four caps to his name.

His caps, while at the club, were as follows...

SEASON	DATE	COMP	OPPOSITION	H/A	SCORELINE
2006-07	Mar 28, 2007	Friendly	Venezuala	A	L0-5
2007-08	Oct 17, 2007	WC Qual	Fiji	A	W2-0
	Nov 17, 2007	WC Qual	Vanuatu	A	W2-1
	Nov 21, 2007	WC Qual	Vanuatu	H	W4-1

Mulligan wasn't in the squad for the first opportunity of a game while on the Iron's books, as he was left out of the team that lost 4-0 against Costa Rica, but he was recalled to the team just four days later as he played the full game in the 5-0 defeat against Venezuala. It would be the only time he lost with New Zealand while at Scunthorpe.

World Cup Qualifiers would follow after being left out of the final friendly squad against Wales in May 2007. He would then go on a 14-game playing streak for his country, which continued beyond leaving United.

The three games he did play in qualifying while on the books at Scunthorpe were particularly fruitful, yielding three wins out of three and three goals for Mulligan.

He would play 58 minutes against Fiji in the 2-0 win before managing to score in the 19 minutes he was handed in the away tie against Vanuatu. He suitably impressed for a start four days later in the return leg, where he netted a brace in a game where the All Blacks doubled their scoring tally from the previous match.

Beyond leaving the Iron, Mulligan would continue to feature for his country for another four years, with his final appearance coming in a 3-0 defeat against Australia in May 2011.

In total, he made 28 appearances for New Zealand's senior team, eight of which coming in World Cup qualifiers and three in the Confederations Cup. The others were friendlies. All three of his international strikes came while with Scunthorpe, in those World Cup qualifiers. His appearances totalled 1,856 minutes.

In addition to those appearances, he attained three caps, scoring twice for the Under-17s.