Radcliffe FC have released David Goodwillie just one day after the striker signed.
The former Dundee United attacker scored a hat-trick for the English seventh tier side last night.
The non-league team beat Belper Town 4-2 on Tuesday evening, with Goodwillie a surprise scorer.
Prior to some of the club's goal tweets on social media, there had been no public announcement of the 33-year-old joining Radcliffe.
In a statement this morning, they say that was regrettable but unavoidable due to the swift nature of when they received clearance of Goodwillie's signing.
The Scot - who was ruled a rapist by a civil court in 2017 - has now left the club after only one day, with the English side admitting their mistake over the controversial signing.
A Radcliffe statement reads: "We can confirm that David Goodwillie has left the club.
"As a club we have always been about second chances and have been a part of many players and staff members rehabilitation along that journey, we've always given people a chance to improve their life and found support in this endeavour.
READ MORE: David Goodwillie makes football return without public announcement
"When the club were presented with David Goodwillie that same logic was applied, but in this case it's clear that was a significant misstep and our due diligence should have been of a much higher standard.
"We can vouch for all the people at the club involved in this signing did so out of the desire to do a good thing for an individual with an admittedly tainted past as we have done so successfully before but this was a bridge too far.
"This move came about very quickly, with clearance only granted extremely late leaving us in a position where our media volunteers were unable to release details prior to team sheets being produced - while regrettable this was also unavoidable.
"From the board down to the management team, who we backed, and have always backed on playing decisions - it's clear that as a whole we got this wrong. The focus was misplaced and as a growing community club we realise that our impacts are also more widely felt too.
"We have always strived to be a source of pride to our town with good and honest intentions, and we think we have made a significant positive impact for our town over the last 6 years both on and off the field and we sincerely apologise to everyone connected with the club and the community - this is a mistake that will never happen again."
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