Referee: Ben Speedie
Assistant Referees: Jacob Graham, Andrew Ellis
Fourth Official: Michael Crusham
This weekend, we have a ref who has infuriated me in the past. It feels a long time ago now, but do you remember when Macaulay Bonne shoved Eyoma in the back and scored, leading to Ipswich beating us 1-0? I do, and that game was officiated by Ben Speedie. He also disallowed a goal for us.
At the time, I wrote, “A good Bramall cross saw Regan Poole steaming in from the right and slamming the ball home, only for the referee to rule it out for offside. Replays are inconclusive, but It was tight, very tight. Two decisions, both against us, which meant it remained 1-0 to them, not 1-0 to us. Literally, that was the difference between the two sides, calls from the referee. After the game, Michael (Appleton) called Speedie arrogant, and whilst I haven’t met the man, for Michael to be so incensed is unusual.”
However, he is also a referee that I have championed. The first time we had him was a 1-0 win at Crewe. He certainly impressed me on that occasion when I wrote: “David Artell won’t be lamenting a referee either. I think there was one booking all game in a match that flowed really well. Nope, no blame, no excuses, just a really, really good Lincoln City performance.”
His third game involving us saw us lose 1-0 to Doncaster when we had 32 shots and they had one, from the penalty spot. No complaints that night, and non in the 0-0 draw he officiated under Mark Kennedy, away at MK Dons, where Midi Shodipo made his first debut.
Since then, we’ve not had him for a game. This season, Speedie has officiated 11 games across different competitions. He refereed five matches in League One, four matches in League Two, and two in the League Cup. Across all these games, he has issued a total of 29 yellow cards, averaging approximately 2.64 yellow cards per game. In League One, he is 16/50 for fouls per game, and 18/50 for fouls per tackle, making him one of the pickier officials. However, at 2.80, his yellows per game is 45/50, meaning we’re likely to see lots of free kicks, but not a lot of punishment.
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