Ref Watch: Shrewsbury Town (H)

Referee: ANDY HAINES
Officials: Graeme Fyvie and Paul Newhouse
Fourth Official: Daniel Woodward

Haines is a very experienced referee with 17 years of behind him, and when it comes to the Imps and Shrewsbury, he’s racked up as many appearances as anyone. We first saw him on Boxing Day in 2007, on an away trip to Bradford City where we lost 2-1 (Barry Conlon got the winner, a player who once split my lip). He took charge of us plenty during our final years as a Football League team, including the opening day of the 2008/09 season, where we lost 1-0 at Rotherham.

He was also in charge of a dour 0-0 draw at Shrewsbury that season. He’s reffed us in the League Cup, too, we went down 1-0 at home to Barnsley just before Jacko was sacked. The first red card he showed a Lincoln player came in 2010 when Davide Somma was sent off on his final Imps outing. The following season, our annus horribilis, he officiated as we won 2-1 at Bradford (they must have been awful), and as we went down 4-0 at home to Gillingham.

Credit Graham Burrell

Since coming back into the league, he has been to Sincil Bank a few times, as we won 3-1 against Port Vale in 2017, and as we hammered Southend 4-0 in 2019. In between those games, he sent off James Norwood as we went down 1-0 against Tranmere. He also officiated our 1-0 FA Cup defeat against Ipswich.

Towards the end of the 2019/20 season he took charge of our 1-1 draw at Shrewsbury, awarding a penalty to both sides. In 2020/21, we had him just once; he dismissed Sean McConville in our 0-0 daw with Accrington, a game in which I felt we would have benefitted from a few kinder decisions. We had him just once in 2021/22 as well, Shrewsbury (again) in the EFL Trophy, where we won 4-1. Last season, no prizes for guessing which game he reffed; yep, Shrewsbury away in the EFL Cup, where he showed precisely zero cards. To be fair, he was also in charge as we lost at Rotherham, and he didn’t have a terrible game, if I recall. This season he was in charge as we drew 1-1 with Exeter on the opening day, making him something of a bookend for us.

Credit Graham Burrell

You would expect him to let the game flow – he’s 57/60 for fouls per game in League One this season, and 57/60 for fouls per tackles as well. He’s 47/60 for yellows per game, but again he’s certainly at the lower end of the spectrum, and his whistle shouldn’t be your overriding memory from Sunday’s encounter. Oddly, the last penalty he awarded in our division was for Exeter in his second handling of their matches this season. The last penalty he awarded at any ground was in Lincolnshire, but Grimsby missed it and missed the chance to beat Champions-elect Oreint 3-2.

Price on a Lincoln penalty to be missed this weekend?