Referee: TOM NIELD
Assistants: Mark Stevens and Matthew Jones
Fourth Official: Daniel Middleton
Tom Nield is a bright, young referee whom we have seen on a few occasions and rarely been disappointed. He first crossed our path in October 2015, his first game on the National League scene. We won 3-2 at Chester but lost when he officiated our game with Forest Green later in the season. He sent off Aaron Racine in that game, but we were still defeated.
He flashed another red card in his next visit to the Bank, a 0-0 draw with Solihull Moors that I like to call the Tom Champion game. He was back at the Bank weeks later for another 0-0 draw, this time with Eastleigh. However, there was no such lack of goals on his final visit to us that season, the era-defining 2-1 win against Macclesfield that put us back into the Football League.
He was promoted with us and came back to the Bank in September as we drew 0-0 (again), this time with Luton Town. He then officiated in three games that saw rare occurrences; 2-1 v Notts County that brought a Josh Ginnelly goal, 1-1 away at Barnet that saw John Akinde score from open play (for them) and the infamous 3-2 win against Exeter in which Ollie Palmer ran the length of the pitch thinking hed won us the game when he hadn’t, only for him to win us the game moments later.
After a season away from our games, we got him twice during the first part of Michael Appleton’s reign. He was the man in the middle when we lost 1-0 to Portsmouth on October 22nd, 2019, and the man who sent off Tayo Edun as we drew 0-0 (again) at home to Gillingham in February 2020. Shockingly, he also booked Steve Evans. That was the last time we saw Nield at the Bank, but he has officiated three Imps matches since – the 2-2 draw against Cheltenham that brought a Ted Bishop brace, or 6-3 win at Bristol Rovers, and our 2-0 victory at Plymouth last season.
Nield hasn’t had much action this season- he’s had two League One matches, and in one of those showed two red cards, one to Dion Charles and another to Ian Evatt. Evatt was sent off for ‘misusing technology‘ which is a new one for me! Out of the 36 officials who have taken matches this season, he’s 27th for fouls per game, 24th for fouls per tackle (the further down you are, the more lenient you are) and 18th for yellows per game. It suggests whilst he is not the strictest of refs, his ratio of cards to fouls is slightly higher than most. In other words, he’ll let a bit go, but if you get caught, you get punished.
You must be logged in to post a comment.