Referee: Josh Smith
Assistant Referees: Edward Smart and Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth Official: Leigh Doughty
Josh Smith, who started out as a player for Bourne Town, is another referee with limited exposure to the Imps.
He joined the Football League in the 2019/20 season and had the immense displeasure of refereeing the worst game of that campaign in terms of a spectacle, the bore draw with Shrewsbury in October. In that game, he sent off Cian Bolger for an elbow on Shaun Whalley, but it was the right call. In fact, of the young official, I said this: “I was impressed with Josh Smith. That lad is in his mid-twenties, and I thought he managed the game very well. He got the big calls right, even though they went against us, and he let the game flow. His use of advantage was spot on and I felt he was far and away the best official we’ve had all season.”
He was also in charge of our 1-0 win at Burton in the 2020/21 season, a game which we escaped without so much as a booking. He was clearly impressing the powers that be because the following season he found himself officiating in the Championship, where he has remained. It is notable that he’s perhaps not Darragh Lenihan‘s favourite official – he’s dismissed the player twice, once for Blackburn and once for Forest.
He had a proud moment this weekend, officiating at Kenilworth Road in the Premier League, although a controversial penalty and red card tempered that a little. On that occasion, he had Nick Greenhalgh running the line, as he did during our win at Burton, and as he will have when West Ham line up against us tonight.
In terms of strictness, he’s very much middle of the road in the Championship, 15/30 for fouls per game and 18/30 for fouls per tackle. he does like to keep his cards in his pocjet, coming out 22/30 in terms of yellows per game.
You must be logged in to post a comment.