Sacked

Burnley Magistrates Court heard how student Shaun Foxcroft, 20, should have been working in the bar at the football club during the derby last Sunday.

Instead, at half-time at his home ground, he donned his soccer boots, took a ball and kicked it into the Blackburn goal - something he had dreamed of doing since he was a little boy.

Foxcroft, a lifelong and "passionate" Clarets fan who who will soon be going to Iraq, was yesterday banned from all soccer matches for three years for what a district judge slammed as his "profound stupidity"

After the case, the defendant, who has now been sacked, said he had even thought of doing a back somersault first.

As soon as had lived his dream, he gave himself up to stewards and police.Foxcroft, a member of the Territorial Army with the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, and who attends Burnley College, claimed the crowd enjoyed his antics and he did not regret it, even after landing in court. He continued:"Everybody was going for it. Everybody was loving it and they cheered when I scored."

Foxcroft, who said another lifelong ambition had been to join the Army, added he was scared of not fulfilling his goals in life.

He said he had been training at Burnley FC's Academy of Excellence and had hoped to play for his team.

The defendant went on : "I have a lot of pride in my town and my country.

"I just felt really patriotic running down that pitch and striking the goal in our biggest rivals' net."

Foxcroft, of Kyme Street, Burnley, admitted going on the playing area during a designated football match.

He was fined £200, and ordered to pay £50 costs by District Judge Michael Singleton.