Let's be clear that we really don't want to revel in this at all. We've all had those nightmare moments at work and first impressions that have gone awry.
But still... the trifecta of getting a red card, scoring an own goal and giving away a penalty is rare enough for a team, let alone a single player. That's has only happened once before in Premier League history, to Southampton's Jan Bednarek in the 9-0 loss to Manchester United in February 2021 - and so never before to a debutant in the competition before Saturday.
Ipswich Town's Harry Clarke was the unlucky party, and the sympathy in his direction is only amplified by manager Kieran McKenna's admission that the academy graduate would not have played were it not for an injury crisis.
Harry Clarke completes the worst of trinities in the Premier League
That forced Ipswich to rush Clarke back from a long-term injury of his own after having an operation to address an Achilles injury in the summer.
Winless Ipswich went 2-0 up away to Brentford in the 31st minute courtesy of Sammi Szmodics and George Hirst, but conceded a rapid-fire double to Yoane Wissa and Clarke's own goal just before half time.
Bryan Mbeumo pulled up his eighth goal of the season and gave Ipswich less than six minutes after the restart, converting after Clarke hauled Keane Lewis-Potter down inside the penalty box - and was booked in the process.
A second bookable foul on Lewis-Potter on 69 minutes meant Clarke got his marching orders, adding up to what must be one of the worst-ever Premier League debuts.
A bad day for Clarke individually turned into a nightmare for Ipswich, too, as substitute Liam Delap equalised four minutes from time only for Mbeumo to win it for Brentford in injury time with a cross that snuck past Arijanet Muric.
The result leaves newly-promoted Ipswich in the bottom three with just four points from their first nine games back in the top flight.
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A sympathetic McKenna said of Clarke after the game: “It’s his Premier League debut and he’s not started a game since April, so he’ll get plenty of support from us.
“He did some good things in the game — there were some good things in his performance — but there were a few things, of course, a few defensive moments that he will want to do better on and he’ll be disappointed with.
“But he’s a young player making his Premier League debut, coming back from a very big injury, and because of injuries we have we’ve had to throw him pretty much straight into the team, where ideally he’ll have had a longer period of maybe coming off the bench.
“Like all of our players and our culture, he’ll take his mistake on the chin I’m sure and look to learn from it, work harder and work hard on those things in training and come back again strong.”
Ipswich will return to Premier League action on Saturday as they host last year's Championship promotion rivals Leicester City.
