Sheffield United legend “holds hands up” after 53-second "headbutt" red card - without touching the ball
Sheffield United legend “holds hands up” after bizarre 53-second headbutt red card - without touching ball
Billy Sharp, the Sheffield United legend, “held his hands up in the changing room” after a bizarre red card for his current club Doncaster Rovers over the weekend - less than a minute after coming off the bench. The 39-year-old came on as a second-half substitute in Rovers’ 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon, who also finished the game with 10 men.
The striker didn’t even touch the ball before he was given his marching orders by referee Neil Hair after an off-the-ball incident involving the visitors' Joe Lewis during a Rovers attack. Replays later suggested that Sharp had aimed a headbutt at Lewis’ back and Hair showed no mercy by brandishing the red card, with Sharp having few complaints as he trudged back off again.
Rovers still have five regular-season games to play in the League Two promotion race and are two points adrift of second-placed Bradford City after their crazy 5-4 defeat to Swindon Town at the weekend. United’s neighbours are waiting to discover the extent of Sharp’s suspension but losing him at such a key stage of the season for any length of time will be a blow to their automatic promotion hopes.
"Billy makes a mistake,” said Rovers boss Grant McCann afterwards. “He's an experienced player and he's held his hands up in the changing room there. I'm sure he'll be devastated. but we'll support him.
“From where I was it looked like he just pushed him but [on replay] it looks like it's more than that. I'll let you watch it back and see. It's frustrating to lose him but someone else will have to step up."
Asked if the club planned to appeal the red card, McCann added: “I don’t think so. When you see it back, he knows what he's done wrong. He's gutted."
A Blades legend after three spells at Bramall Lane and the same number of promotions, Sharp is out of contract at Rovers at the end of the season but has already spoken of his desire to extend his playing career beyond the age of 40.
"The drive is still there, the hunger is still there. I'm going to try and keep playing and my aim is to get 300 career goals,” said Sharp, whose current tally stands at 284 as per Soccerbase stats, earlier this season. "If I can't do that this season, I want to make sure I reach that target next season."