Referee: SAM PURKISS
Assistants: Ivan Stankovic and Simon Clayton
Fourth Official: Thomas Parsons
Purkiss is a fourth-year referee who made his way into National League the year after we were promoted. He took charge of our 2-1 win against Wigan at the end of 2020, and I had no complaints back then. He did award us a free kick on the edge of the area from which we scored, but it was justified, and he managed the game well. He only handed out two yellow cards, a reflection of how the game was played as much as his willingness to book.
He officiated a City game in the dying embers of our play-off season as we went down 2-1 to Hull City, a game that saw him get a bit of stick as he didn’t send George Honeyman off for a second bookable offence, and they scored from a seemingly high boot. Of that game, I wrote: “I didn’t think Sam Purkiss was a poor ref, he let things go which others might have punished, but if it goes in our favour, then we’d be raving about him. Yes, Callum Morton got a battering at times, and maybe Magennis’s boot was high for the goal, but flip the teams around, put us as the scorers and their centre forward as the one getting roughed up a bit, and nobody complains.”
He did us a bit of a favour away at Portsmouth that season, sending off Jack Whatmough in our win there, but again it was a justifiable red card that only drew complaints from the opposite side. His last appearance against us came away at Cambridge, the game we won 5-1, where it was hard to spot anything wrong he did as we were rampant. Remember those days when we used to score goals? We scored five from open play in 56 minutes. Currently, we’ve scored five in the league in open play in around 1135 minutes, taking injury time into account. Basically, we’ve scored five from open play (not penalties) since Danny Mandroiu’s winner at Barnsley in October. Still, that’s not Sam Purkiss’s fault.
Anyhow, can we reverse that this weekend? Let’s hope so. There’s every chance we could get a hand from the referee – he’s sent off nine players in just 21 matches across all competitions, so maybe the home side could see a red? Caveat – of the nine reds he’s issued, eight have been to the away team. Oh, crumbs, Dangermouse. In League One, he’s 30/58 for fouls awarded per game, but 11/58 for fouls per tackle, meaning he seems to have dropped the leniency we saw against Hull a couple of years ago. He’s middle of the road for yellows but issues more reds per game than any official with more than two matches at this level. In fact, in his seven outings this campaign, he’s sent off five players in League One, four of which have been for the away team.
Watch out, Imps!
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