SHAUN Cooper has pleaded not guilty to a charge of striking Harry Redknapp - but has come clean to name the culprit more than five years on!

During his days at former club Portsmouth, the Cherries midfielder was party to one of the most hilarious incidents witnessed on a training ground.

The now-legendary scene saw Pompey boss Redknapp struck on the back of the leg by a stray football as he conducted an interview with Tony Husband for BBC South.

And although the footage has been watched more than 73,000 times on the video sharing website You Tube, the identity of the player responsible has remained a mystery.

Several names have been put in the frame with contributors to a You Tube forum listing former Pompey stars Gary O'Neil and Mark Burchill among them.

And one wag even claimed that "Fat Frank" had carried out the act, while another said it was ex-Fun House presenter Pat Sharp!

However, Cooper, who was present at Pompey's training ground in Eastleigh when the incident took place in November 2002, has finally revealed all after being quizzed by the Daily Echo.

"It was my mate Terry Parker," said the 24-year-old. "But he definitely didn't do it deliberately.

"He stayed out after training and was just pinging a few balls about with a couple of the other younger lads.

"A ball came to him and as he went to volley it, he just shanked it and everyone has seen what happened after that.

"It was the funniest thing ever and everyone was wetting themselves!"

Defender Parker, who never featured for Pompey's first team, once had a trial with Cherries and is now playing for Dorchester following spells with Oxford, Farnborough and Weymouth.