Referee: Martin Coy
Assistant: Thomas Harty and Jonathon Block
Fourth Official: Matthew Mcquillan
The last time we had Martin Coy, he almost made me cry, but the blame lay with his assistants. In fact, I’d praised him in this article before we played Wigan, and then he ruined my perception of him. Hopefully, that was a one-off, because prior to the game that ultimately cost us a play-off place, I felt he’d done okay.
On that occasion, I wrote, “There had been moments in the first half where I felt the ref was teetering, mainly due to the lack of help he got from the assistant referee on the west side of the pitch, but I felt he lost control. Wigan were good at handling the game, and I’ve no complaints about them at all. They made a few cheeky little pull backs, unpunished by a booking, but every team does it, and we’re not talking Stevenage or Burton levels. However, inconsistency began to creep in, and it felt to me like decisions began to be weighed against us.”
You might also remember it was the game where a lino guessed whether the ball was out of play or not. It’s a different lino team this week, luckily.
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.”
He does like a foul—in 11 League One matches last season, he ranked 20/63 for fouls per game but 41st for fouls per tackle. That does suggest he got tough games, as he didn’t typically award a lot of fouls per tackle but did award a higher-than-average number of fouls per game. He was 47th for yellows per game as well, showing a certain leniency.
You must be logged in to post a comment.