Amateur footballer Shaun Dallimore facing prison after on-pitch headbutt

Amateur footballer Shaun Dallimore is facing prison for headbutting an opponent on the pitch.

Jurors at Southampton Crown Court took less than half an hour to convict the 24-year-old of causing grievous bodily harm to Steve Green in an off-the-ball incident.

The Hythe and Dibden midfielder was left with a fractured right cheekbone after an unprovoked attack at a corner shortly before half time when Hythe were leading their home Wessex Division One match against Tadley Calleva.

Green said that the usual pushing and shoving was going on in the box when Dallimore trod on his foot and then said: "I'm going to smash you in a minute."

Judge Nicholas Rowland said he took "a dim view" of Dallimore's evidence, adding that the defendant's witnesses could not have seen what they claimed to have seen.