DAVID PRUTTON described himself as an "idiot" for the moment of madness that could see him miss the rest of the season.

The Saints midfielder was overcome with rage after being sent off for a second bookable offence against Arsenal on Saturday - the sixth dismissal of his professional career.

He was seen by millions across the world shoving referee Alan Wiley in a bid to confront linesman Paul Norman after being handed a second yellow for a late tackle on Robert Pires.

The FA meet tomorrow and are sure to hand out a lengthy ban to Prutton that could even extend to the end of the campaign.

But the 23-year-old has faced the media to apologise for his behaviour and made no excuses.

He said: "You can see what you've done in the reaction you get from your friends and family and the way I felt told me what I'd done.

"I'm not proud of it at all and I can't say what came over me but I bitterly regretted it afterwards.

"I have to apologise to the linesman, the ref and the people who were sat in the front row because if they heard what I said then I really apologise to them.

"I also need to apologise to Robert Pires as well. I didn't realise that tackle was as bad as it was - I could have caused him some damage."

Prutton said he had NO idea at the time it was the referee he was pushing. "I don't remember the referee being in between," he said. "I can't even remember pushing him.

"You don't see what shirt he's wearing - it could have been one of my players.

"I have to thank the manager and Dennis Rofe and Jim Joyce that came over and stopped me.

"I'm not the type of person to go over and hurt anybody.

"I had an opinion that I thought I needed to give but in hindsight I didn't and I should have just shut my mouth and gone up the tunnel."

He added: "It was borne out of frustration.

"I can't say I thought the linesman was doing a bad job because I made an idiot of myself, but there was certain things that he missed.

"Every person in the stadium knew that I deserved to be sent off but I felt he missed a couple of things but I didn't go about telling him in the right way.

"I've never seen a referee change his mind when a player bawls in his face, so that's going to have to stop."

Prutton, who is actively involved in trying to promote Saints in the local community, was particularly concerned about the effect his actions could have on youngsters, who look upon him as a role model and on how people view not just himself but footballers in general.

"I've seen it on the TV and it looks horrendous when you're swearing at someone. And you can make out every word they're saying," said Prutton, who is serving the automatic one-game ban for the red card in tonight's FA Cup fifth round replay at Brentford.

"I try and do a lot of work here to show footballers and this club in a good light on and off the pitch but people won't listen to you if you've got an image of screaming at the linesman.

"That's no example to set to anybody, no matter how old you are, and I want to apologise to the people that were well within earshot.

"I wouldn't like to take my son, daughter or whoever to a football match and hear that.

"You hear bad things in the crowd but you don't want to hear players saying it."