Referee: MARTIN COY
Assistants: Steven Rushton and Lewis Raper
Fourth Official: Richard Wigglesworth
Saturday will be Martin Coy’s second visit to Sincil Bank in a year – he was in charge as we beat Morecambe 2-1 in November, which hopefully will be a lucky omen. He was scheduled to take charge of our 1-1 draw with MK Dons in February, but Seb Stockbridge turned up instead.
We first crossed paths with Coy during our National League days. Our game with Salisbury in 2013 was only the third of his National League career and one I’d rather forget; we lost 1-0. He was back later in the season, this time as we won 4-3 at Hyde United. He also took charge of our 4-1 victory over Barnet in 2014/15, our 3-2 reverse at Dover the following season, and a 1-1 with Macclesfield. In 2016/17, he was in charge as we beat Tranmere 1-0 thanks to Macauley Bonne’s goal and our 3-3 draw with Aldershot.
Continuing our decent run of form when Mr Coy is in charge, his first visit to Sincil Bank as a Football League referee saw us turn Forest Green over, 2-1 at Christmas 2017. Our title-winning season saw our paths cross once again, and this time it produced the first red card in games of ours he has refereed. He sent James Wilson off as we drew 1-1 in the Checkatrade Trophy at Scunthorpe. He was then also in charge as we beat Morecambe 2-0 with an Andrade double later in the campaign.
After starting off his relationship with us with a 1-0 home defeat, he oversaw another, City losing to Rotherham 1-0 in February 2020. We had him just once in 2020/21, in the 2-2 draw with Accrington, famous for Alex Palmer’s rather horrible early error, which gifted the visitors an early goal.
A couple of years ago, he really impressed me – when we beat Sheff Weds 3-1. On that occasion, I wrote, “It was what I can only call a blood and thunder game, played at a great pace with a referee (Martin Coy) who was more than happy to let things go, time and again. Pulling, pushing, even the odd nasty challenge was only punished by a talking to after play broke down. I’m all for that sort of refereeing, and the only surprise was Maguire’s booking, which in the context of the game felt soft. Maybe the ref felt a card for him might cut out on some of his antics, make a point to the other players. It worked.”
This season he’s had four matches, the most recent of which saw him award a penalty as Barnsley went down 3-1 to Oxford United. As the time being added on is a talking point, I thought it worth pointing out he only added on ten minutes in that game, five at the end of either half. He played 10 additional minutes in the Salford v Crawley game (four in the first half, six in the second), but 20 minutes in the opening day fixture between Morecambe and Walsall.
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