Oliver Norburn was given a baffling red card on Saturday for throwing away the boot of an opposition player.
The Notts County midfielder had already been given a yellow card for a prior incident when he was given his marching orders in the 19th minute.
He tackled Armando Dobra of Chesterfield on the edge of his own box when a boot, belonging to the floored player, came loose.
Norburn picked up the red boot and tossed it aside, much to Dobra's annoyance.
The referee wasn't impressed and dished out a second yellow card. Chesterfield's players were also not amused by Norburn's antics.
Chesterfield ran out 3-2 winners in the clash in League Two. Dobra and Norburn's rivalry started before the red card incident.
Early in the game, home fans accused Dobra of feigning injury after a clash with Norburn.
Then after 16 minutes, the Meadow Lane faithful were silenced when Dobra fired home Dilan Markanday's cross to give his side the lead. Dobra had started and finished the move.
Ten-man County rallied and equalised after 36 minutes when Jodi Jones' cross resulted in an own goal by Sil Swinkels.
Tom Naylor put Chesterfield back ahead in the 44th minute.
But Matty Platt swiftly equalised to make it 2-2 at half time. Liam Mandeville nodded home a 66th-minute winner for the visitors.
Chesterfield assistant Kieron Dyer said about the odd red card: "We were actually wondering what the ref was going to put in his report -- probably unsporting conduct or something like that!
"To be fair, [the referee] was consistent because he then booked one of our lads for booting a random ball into the stand."
Notts County manager Martin Paterson was in no mood to discuss Norburn, though.
He said: "I've got no view on it. My view is irrelevant and it's pointless talking about it because I've learned a valuable lesson to respect authority. I'm a little bit worried it could have an impact on my group."
County and Chesterfield both remain in the hunt for promotion from League Two.
County might be left wondering what might've been if Norburn wasn't booted off so early...
PA contributed to this report.