Football's unwanted record

David Pratt, a striker with non-league side Chippenham Town, may have set a new record for the fastest send-off in senior football when he was given the red card for a wild tackle on Bashley's Chris Knowles three seconds into the game on Saturday.

"I felt hard done-to by the ref's decision but he thinks it was a red card so I have to take it. The world record is not a big deal for me. It's not something that I'm proud of."

The previous fastest sending-off is generally accepted to be 10 seconds for Bologna's Giuseppe Lorenzo after he struck an opponent in a 1990 Italian league game.

English football's previous "best" was 13 seconds when Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Kevin Pressman handled outside his box in a game in 2000. Also in the same year, English amateur player Lee Todd was sent off after two seconds when he responded to the referee's whistle to start the game by saying "fuck me, that was loud" and was dismissed for foul and abusive language.