Referee: Tom Reeves
Assistant Referees: Paul Newhouse, Conor Farrell
Fourth Official: Steven Rushton
Last week I can claim a bit of a win, suggesting we might see a red card against Accrington. Can I have the same effect this week?
There’s not a lot of previous between us and Tom Reeves – a single game last season. We lost that 2-0 to Ipswich, and the ref had no bearing on the outcome at all. This is his second season on the Football League list, having spent three years in the National League. In that time, he didn’t seem particularly card happy, although he did send off former Imp Chris Bush in a game between Notts County and Bromley. He wasn’t entirely unknown to Lincolnshire sports fans; he was in charge in 2019 as Boston United beat Carshalton (any still shudder when they read that word?) 4-1 in the FA Cup.
Full time
Carshalton Athletic 1 : 4 Boston United #RobinsLive #FACup
— Carshalton Athletic FC (@CarshaltonA_FC) November 9, 2019
He officiated 25 games in all competitions this season and given just two red cards, both coming in his last three matches. He’s had nine League One matches, during which he’s shown just three yellow cards per game (on average), leaving him 45/58 on the list. It is a little worrying that he is 13/58 for fouls per game, meaning whilst he awards a lot of free kicks, they don’t tend to go punished. Will we see a scrappy game with persistent offending going unnoticed? It’s possible.
He’s awarded seven penalties in all competitions, split four for home teams and three for away, so there’s no discernable pattern there. I think we’re getting an unfussy referee who might be a little too lenient at times but otherwise shouldn’t cause unnecessary trouble for either team.