Will Lankshear discovered one of football’s new rules in real time after enjoying his standing ovation for slightly too long during Middlesbrough’s Carabao Cup victory over Wrexham.

The 21-year-old marked his Middlesbrough debut by scoring the only goal of the game with an overhead kick before being substituted in the 81st minute.

Understandably, the home supporters applauded him.

Lankshear decided to acknowledge them.

This is where the problem began.

Under new rules introduced for the 2026/27 season, substituted players have 10 seconds to leave the pitch once instructed to do so.

If they take longer, their replacement cannot enter until the first stoppage after at least one minute has elapsed.

Lankshear took longer.

His replacement Fin Cartwright was therefore prevented from entering the pitch, leaving Middlesbrough temporarily playing with ten men while their goalscorer completed his journey towards the touchline.

Manager Kim Hellberg could be seen attempting to hurry Lankshear off, although the striker later provided a reasonable explanation for his lack of urgency.

He didn’t know the rule existed.

Having recently joined Middlesbrough from Tottenham, Lankshear explained that he had missed the refereeing briefings during pre-season.

The new measure has been introduced to prevent players deliberately wasting time during substitutions and encourage them to leave the pitch quickly.

It successfully achieved this.

Lankshear scored a spectacular winner on his debut, received an ovation for doing so and briefly left his new team with ten players because he spent too long acknowledging it.

He now knows the rule.