Referee: Carl Boyeson
Assistants: Stephen Wade and Wayne Grunnill
Fourth Official: Aaron Bannister
We have been seeing Boyeson regularly since 2002, he’s one of the longest-serving on the list, and he’s a referee I haven’t always been happy with. The most obvious angering moment came against Bristol Rovers at home in 2019, where he awarded them a soft penalty for a Tom Nichols dive and denied us one in the first half too. He’s worked for us, by the way; he gave us a penalty in the 1-1 draw with Grimsby the same season which was soft, to say the least. He gave us a helping hand against Tranmere too, sending one of their lads off in rather soft circumstances.
Still, for or against you, Boyeson is a landmine waiting to be stepped upon.
In total, he has officiated 21 Lincoln City matches, and to be fair, he isn’t usually one to flash a red. Some matches have passed without a yellow, including our 4-1 defeat at home against Crewe. I have always found him to be a referee who gets the basics wrong, which is easy to say when you wear rose-tinted spectacles. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe Boyeson has just irked me and isn’t a bad referee at all. After all, there wasn’t much to complain about the last time he officiated us, at least not from a referee’s perspective – it was the 3-2 defeat at home against MK Dons on Boxing Day.
This season in League One, he is fifth out of 55 for fouls awarded per game, third in fouls awarded per tackle, and 18th for yellows per game. However, he has officiated just one game in the division, Sheff Weds 2-0 win at Cambridge. He officiated more in League Two and actually, his numbers are consistent. He’s 12th for fouls per game, 19th for fouls per tackle, and 32nd for yellows per game. I fear that if you’re going to tonight’s game, you’ll hear his whistle much more than that of Martin Coy on Saturday.
You must be logged in to post a comment.