THREE minutes and forty seconds was all it took for one of Southampton Football Club's most important pieces of sporting memorabilia to go under the hammer.

A mystery buyer is now the proud owner of Peter Rodrigues's precious FA Cup Winners medal, which fetched £10,200 at a sport memorabilia auction yesterday.

The memento was put up for auction without Mr Rodrigues's knowledge by his 36-year-old daughter Amanda, who lives in Bolton, Lancashire.

The red carpeted executive lounge of Northampton Football Club was the venue as lot 76, the year of Saints' 1-0 legendary victory over Manchester United, was put up for sale.

Bidding for the medal, sold in its original case and inscribed on the back with FA Challenge Cup Winners and Mr Rodrigues's name as captain, started at £5,000. Auctioneer David Palmer, sitting on stage, never lost sight of a hand signal or nod at the back of the room filled with 100 football enthusiasts.

Despite two bids from the back of the room for £7,200 and £7,800, it was down to three fast and furious telephone bidders, one representing an overseas buyer, who tried to outprice each other as the price crept up by £200 every few seconds.

John Dee, an agent acting on behalf of one prospective buyer, came in at £10,100 but refused to go any higher.

The agent who walked away with the medal refused to disclose any details about the buyer.

Since Mr Rodrigues learned his medal was going to be up for sale he has tried without success to retrieve it. Today his youngest daughter Tanya Lee, 33, who lives in Southampton, said her father was too devastated to talk about the sale.

"I was hoping it would not happen - so was he. I had put it to the back of my mind and now I can't believe it has gone ahead. It is very upsetting," she said.

The mother of two, who works as a practice nurse, said the medal should have remained within the family.

"It's so sad not knowing where it has gone to."

Mrs Lee refused to comment on whether the family was on speaking terms with her older sister, who also has two children.

She said the family had not considered buying the medal back because it would be giving money to her sister for something already within the family.

Before the auction Saints chairman Rupert Lowe said the club had not ruled one way or the other over whether to buy the medal and any decision would be a private matter.

Team members Peter Osgood and Jim Steele are thought to have already sold their medals.