IT WAS like a red rag to a bull. When Gwent rugby side Cross Keys travelled to Neath, things didn't go too well for the visitors.
After 80 miserable minutes at the Gnoll in their Welsh Premier Division clash, Keys were down 45-0. But their problems didn't end on the pitch.
Because after the match, as Neath's mascot Brian the Bull was showering, having taken off his costume, Brian's head mysteriously disappeared from the home team's dressing room.
Panic ensued and a fruitless search of the club's premises left only one, or should that be 15, possible suspects.
A Neath rugby club spokesman said: "It became clear after a while that Brian had disappeared and possibly gone grazing in other pastures.
"So we took the bull by the horns and contacted Cross Keys to see if they knew anything of the head's whereabouts."
Brian's head is worth £500, so Neath say they were forced to call in South Wales Police to investigate.
Neath were particularly concerned about the disappearance as Brian forms an integral part of their current scheme visiting local schools.
But on Monday night, a frantic couple of days later, the head was returned to the club by a Cross Keys representative - it had miraculously turned up in Gwent.
Club secretary for Cross Keys, Chris Clarke, said: "The team must have accidentally taken it back with them.
"It was found in among all the kit and as soon as we were made aware of this we returned it to Neath."
Police say their investigations are now at an end after Brian's head was reunited with his body.
It is understood that there is a prime suspect for how the bull's head "accidentally got taken" and the nickname "the rustler" is being bandied about in the Cross Keys dressing room.
A Neath spokesman added: "I've heard of players kidnapping club officials and taking them back on the bus with them before so I suppose this isn't too bad.
"We have Brian's head back now so there are no hard feelings."
But, he said, Cross Keys and its red away strip might provoke something of a typical bull-like reaction to the colour the next time the teams meet.
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