Shrewsbury striker John Marquis matched the fastest red card in English professional football after being sent off just 13 seconds into his side’s 2-1 defeat on Saturday.
Marquis was adjudged to have elbowed Peterborough defender Sam Hughes shortly after kick-off and was handed his marching orders by referee Martin Woods.
The game, a six-pointer in the fight to avoid relegation to League Two, then slipped away from the Shrews, leaving them eight points adrift at the bottom of the table.
Shrewsbury had got the game underway and played the ball forward into the home team’s half, leading Marquis to challenge Hughes in the air with a stray elbow.
His red card matched the record set by former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Kevin Pressman in 2000, after he handled outside of the penalty area.
The dismissal, Marquis’ first in four years, cemented his unwanted place in the history books and irritated Shrews supporters, many of whom criticised his actions online.
Shrewsbury striker John Marquis matched the fastest red card in England football history
Marquis was sent off 13 seconds in after catching Peterborough’s Sam Hughes with an elbow
The forward challenged Hughes in the air and was handed his marching orders by the referee
There have, however, been bizarre instances when substitutes have been sent off before play has resumed following their introduction.
The dismissals of Keith Gillespie for Sheffield United against Reading in 2007 and Walter Boyd for Swansea against Darlington in 2000 were timed as zero seconds.
But Marquis’ red card is now the joint-fastest from the start of a game, a feat he shares after Pressman was made to walk against Wolves in the 2000-01 campaign.
The world record for a red card from the start of a top-flight league match is believed to be 10 seconds, for Bologna’s Giuseppe Lorenzo against Parma in 1990.
Shrewsbury’s official X account announced the sending off in understated fashion, simply posting: ‘Red card! Inside 10 seconds Marquis has been sent off.’
Supporters voiced their fury in the comments, believing the decision may well have confirmed their relegation to the bottom tier of the professional game.
‘Can’t be doing that when you’re battling against relegation,’ one user said.
‘Red card deserved,’ another added. ‘What a plonker. Think we might be doomed.’
‘Imagine turning up to play, warming up etc, to be sent off,’ a third user joked.
One user disagreed with the red card, posting: ‘Yellow all day long.
‘Referee last week couldn’t make a decision. This fella is on one.’
