Referee: LEWIS SMITH
Assistants: Lewis Raper and Matthew Parry
Fourth Official: James Westgate
Lewis Smith will take charge of our fixture against Blackpool tomorrow night, and he’s something of an enigma, as you’ll see.
We first saw him at the Bank at the tail end of the 2022/23 season, when an early Danny Mandroiu penalty saw us win 1-0. He was dipping in and out of the Nationa League back then, and within five days, had Woking’s play-off game against Bromley and then Watford’s 2-0 win against Stoke in the Championship.
Last season he was the referee that added one 100 minutes (possibly an exaggeration) against Bristol Rovers, a game we drew 1-1 after they scored in the 178th minute of the game (okay, maybe it was the 94th). but again, that was a wider initiative, not the referee’s fault.
This will be his third time with us, but he’s had quite an interesting year so far. In March, he took charge of three Japanese J1 League matches before coming back to the UK to officiate in the Championship, notably Sheffield Wednesday’s 4-0 opening-day win against Plymouth Argyle’s Wayne Rooney.
Just a month ago, he took charge of Ipswich and Fulham in the Premier League, and last weekend, he was in charge of Mansfield and Shrewsbury, coming via Walsall and Bradford. Imagine a referee who, in the space of a few months, has taken charge of Leicester City, Shrewsbury, Urawa Red Diamonds, Walsall, Sheffield Wednesday, Fulham, and Kawasaki F.
I’m guessing he’s going to be a decent one.
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