The Football League has now announced the officials that will take charge of the match between Lincoln City and Barnsley at Sincil Bank in League One on Saturday 25th November (15:00).
Referee: Ross Joyce.
Assistants Referees: Abbas Khan and Lee Freeman.
Fourth Official: Wayne Grunnill.
NEW QUIZ: How much can you remember from last season’s match at home versus Barnsley? 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!
He is no stranger to both sets of supporters, having officiated more than twenty matches involving The Imps and 8 involving Barnsley.
His last match involving The Imps was at the New Meadow back in August in League One, when City came away with all three points with a 1-0 win versus Shrewsbury Town. He showed 6 yellow cards in this match, including four for City: Lukas Jensen, Paudie O’Connor, Sean Roughan and Lasse Sørensen.
His last match involving Barnsley was their 2-0 home win versus Oxford United in April last season, in front of a crowd of 12,291 at Oakwell. He brandished 5 yellow cards in this match, only one of which was for a Barnsley player (Luca Connell).
He received an average rating of 6.13 following City’s 1-0 win versus Shrewsbury Town in August. Some of the comments can be found below:
sedgleyimp: “For me, he was fine if a little care-free with his cards for challenges which didn’t look that bad (Lasse’s aside!!).
I’ll go for an above par 7.”
Chimpimp: “6 – played 5mins and 45 seconds of the additional 6 minutes…
He would have got 10 from most Lincoln supporters if he had been refereeing at Northampton!”
PerthImp: “A bit meh – let a lot go. 5.5/10.”
Ross Joyce oversaw a total of 30 matches last season, showing 118 yellow cards (3.93) and 6 red cards. He was just a little card happy in the League Two encounter between Northampton Town and Crawley Town (1-0) when he showed 8 yellow cards and 1 red card, including a booking for former Imps loanee Kellan Gordon.
So far this season, he has been the man in the middle for 15 matches, showing 67 yellow cards (4.47) and 6 red cards. He has shown 8 cards on two occasions: Wigan Athletic 2-1 Northampton Town in League One (8 yellow cards) and Harrogate Town 2-0 Morecambe in League Two (7 yellow cards and 1 red card).
Sources: English Football League & Soccer Base.
Barnsley (h): Match Officials:https://t.co/aAnAeoAQuL#WeAreImps #BarnsleyFC #Barnsley
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) November 24, 2023
