Referee: SUNNY SINGH GILL
Steven Plane and Alistair Nelson
Fourth Official: Declan Ford
Gill is a face we’re not entirely familiar with, having had him just twice before. He’s the son of a referee himself, one you’ll doubtless all remember: Jarnail Singh. However, Sunny is making something of a name for himself in the game right now.
This weekend will be the third time Gill has officiated an Imps match. He was in charge of our 1-0 defeat at Port Vale, a game best forgotten. On that occasion, I was happy with him, saying after he booked Ben House early that “it pointed to Sunny Gill being too card happy, but he had a strong game in his first spell officiating an Imps game. His Dad, Jarnail Singh, would seemingly send one of ours off whenever we got him, but Gill handled things well from the first minute to the last.”
The Sunny Gill curse continued as we went down 2-1 at Exeter to end our ten-game unbeaten run last season, but again, I wasn’t blaming the referee. I write he was “impeccable throughout. I didn’t think he got many decisions wrong, bar one in the first half where there was either a foul on our forward (can’t remember who) or it was a goal kick, but he gave a corner, then as soon as the ball was delivered blew for a foul. If that’s the only thing to moan about, you know the referee has had a good game. Here’s my prediction for you – Sunny Gill will be a Premier League referee sometime in the next five or ten years”. High praise.
Gill has already officiated ten matches this season, flashing two reds – most recently sending off Bez Lubala in the Burton and Wigan encounter. He is 12/49 for fouls per game, which is a little higher than average, and seventh for fouls per tackle. He’s also 8th for yellow per game, so whilst he does appear at the pickier end of the scale, there is consistency in his numbers. That could mean he’s had tough games to officiate and has simply remained consistent in his approach.
Hopefully, tomorrow won;t see him make it three games, three defeats for the Imps!
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