Barnsley v Lincoln City (a): Match Officials

The match officials have now been confirmed for the League One tie between Barnsley and Lincoln City at Oakwell on Saturday 9th March (15:00).

Referee: Ben Atkinson.
Assistant Referee: Daniel Woodward.
Assistant Referee: Alan Clayton.
Fourth Official: ~~Danny Gratton~~ Paul Newhouse.

NEW QUIZ: How much can you remember from the last time The Imps played Barnsley at Oakwell? Have a go at the quiz at the bottom of the page or simply CLICK HERE (opens in a new window)!

You can discuss this refereeing appointment here, and get involved with our pre-match discussion!

This will be the first time Ben Atkinson has been the man in the middle for a match involving Barnsley and only his second time for a match involving Lincoln City. He was only promoted to the National Group by the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) ahead of the start of this season.

His only match involving The Imps was the 2-0 win at home against Cheltenham Town in League One back in September when he showed 6 yellow cards, including bookings for Adam Jackson, Ethan Erhahon, Ethan Hamilton and Teddy Bishop. He received an average rating of 1.30 (yes, that does say 1.30) from our members following this match and some of the comments can be found below.

clanford: “Never ref voted before, but I don’t know where to start with this one. A big fat 1 from me. Pulled up for inoculous challenges, yet let seemingly obvious fouls go. Appeared to favour Chelts. Random bookings that baffled everyone. Made the game very stop/start. Maybe the time has come for the refs report to be published online. That way at least you can’t see why decisions were made even if they were wrong!!”

Eweimps: “I think from the first few minutes you could tell he was going to have a poor day. Gave some soft free kicks and then missed some obvious ones. Didn’t seem to communicate very well with the players. I almost felt sorry for him in the end as he had a complete mare.

2.5/10.”

APHLCFC: “Just a really weird performance. He won’t ref an easier game all year. It was played out like a pre-season friendly, and he still managed to create all sorts of grief.

I agree with the others that said he was trying to get noticed. Very dangerous when a ref wants to be the centre of attention.

Luckily, he didn’t affect the outcome, on another day at another ground he could’ve caused a bloody riot.

1/10.”

Ben Atkinson oversaw a total of 7 matches during the 2022/23 season, all of which were in the Conference. He showed 36 yellow cards (5.14) and 1 red card, with 10 of his yellow cards coming in the match between Altrincham and Gateshead (0-1), in front of a crowd of 1,804 at Moss Lane.

Atkinson has been the man with the whistle on 24 occasions so far this season, showing 115 yellow cards (4.79) and 7 red cards, with his most recent red card coming last week at the Racecourse Ground, as Wrexham secured a comfortable 4-0 win at home against Accrington Stanley in League Two. Defender Lewis Shipley (on loan from Norwich City) was sent off for the visitors.

Sources: English Football League and Soccerbase.

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