The Imps take on Burton Albion in League One tonight at the Pirelli Stadium and the match carries a 7.00pm kick-off.
Referee: Josh Smith.
Assistants Referees: Nick Greenhalgh and Mark Dwyer.
Fourth Official: Mark Jones.
You can discuss this refereeing appointment HERE, and get involved with our Burton Albion v Lincoln City Match Thread! We have also published a Lincoln City v Burton Albion Quiz, which can be found just below. Every page view helps raise money for Lincoln City Football Club!
Have a go at our Lincoln City v Burton Albion Quiz below:
Josh Smith has been the man in the middle for 1 match involving Lincoln City:
18/10/19: Lincoln City 0-0 Shrewsbury Town (League One) – 2 yellow cards and 1 red card
TOTALS: Matches: 1 — Yellow Cards: 2 — Red Cards: 1
He received an average rating of 7.81 following the 0-0 draw at home against Shrewsbury Town in October 2019. Some of the comments can be found below:
sedgleyimp: “Watching via iFollow he impressed me with his positioning and attempts to play advantage throughout.
Still not seen any other angles for the red card so difficult to assess completely but Bolger gave him a decision to make so overall I’ll give him an 8/10.”
impsimps: “6/10, I think he was swayed too much by the players and crowd reaction before giving decisions, and the bloke who collapsed under Bolgers challenge was another example of it. Think he should have taken more time over that one rather than believe at face value what the players reaction was. Decent compared to many this season though.”
Luke Imp: “8/10.
Generally let the game flow, didn’t make any absolute howlers (linesman gave the red), but it was an easy game to ref. Little happened.”
Tonight’s referee Josh Smith only spent one season at National League level, and the match between The Imps and Shrewsbury Town in October 2019 was the first time he’d been in charge of a full League One encounter.
Graham Horwood took charge of a match between Northampton Town and Bristol Rovers during the 2016/17 season but got injured, resulting in Smith taking over for the remainder of the match. At 2-2, he sent The Cobblers Gabriel Zakuani off for a second bookable offence in the first minute of injury time, and just a minute later, Charlie Colkett scored the winner for The Gas.
Smith began in the Peterborough Junior Alliance for two years before progressing through the ranks. He has also refereed in the Peterborough & District Youth League, the Peterborough & District (adult) League, the Peterborough Sunday Morning League, the United Counties League, contributory leagues and the National League South.
He also spent two seasons as an assistant referee in the Football League, and at the age of 22, he was the youngest assistant in the league at the time.
His first match as a Football League referee was at Home Park on Saturday, 24th August, between Plymouth Argyle and Walsall (3-0) in Sky Bet League Two in front of a crowd of 9,337. With just 5 minutes of normal time to play, Smith sent off Argyle midfield Antoni Sarcevic for a challenge on Stuart Sinclair.
Josh Smith: 2020/21 Stats:
05/09/20: Reading 3-1 Colchester United (EFL Cup) – no cards
15/09/20: Leyton Orient 3-2 Plymouth Argyle (EFL Cup) – no cards
19/09/20: Burton Albion 2-1 Accrington Stanley (League One) – 4 yellow cards
10/10/20: Oldham Athletic 2-3 Morecambe (League Two) – 1 yellow card
17/10/20: AFC Wimbledon 0-1 Shrewsbury Town (League One) – 3 yellow cards
24/10/20: Huddersfield Town 1-2 Preston North End (Championship) – 8 yellow cards and 1 red card
31/10/20: Wigan Athletic 2-3 Northampton Town (League One) – 5 yellow cards
04/11/20: Birmingham City 1-2 Wycombe Wanderers (Championship) – 1 yellow card
14/11/20: Cambridge United 1-1 Barrow (League Two) – 4 yellow cards
28/11/20: Cardiff City 4-0 Luton Town (Championship) – 1 yellow card
01/12/20: Blackpool 1-0 Portsmouth (League One) – 5 yellow cards
13/03/21: Exeter City 0-1 Cheltenham Town (League Two) – 1 yellow card
20/03/21: Harrogate Town 0-1 Morecambe (League Two) – 5 yellow cards and 1 red card
27/03/21: Milton Keynes Dons 1-0 Doncaster Rovers (League One) – 1 yellow card
10/04/21: Swindon Town 0-3 Peterborough United (League One) – 3 yellow cards
TOTALS: Matches: 15 — Yellow Cards: 42 — Red Cards: 2
Josh Smith was the man in the middle for 26 matches last season, showing a total of 81 yellow cards and 6 red cards.
Last season, he showed 7 cards on two occasions: Port Vale 2-2 Mansfield Town in League Two (7 yellow cards) and Gillingham 2-1 Doncaster Rovers in League One (6 yellow cards and 1 red card).
Smith oversaw 21 matches during the 2018/18 season, all in the Conference. In those matches, he showed a total of 75 yellow cards and 5 red cards.
He was most card happy in the match between Leyton Orient and Solihull Moors (3-0) when he showed 9 yellow cards and 1 red card.
Sources: English Football League and Soccer Base.
Burton Albion (a): Tonight's Match Officials:https://t.co/072CM9FykK#BAFC #ImpsAsOne #ProudToBeImps
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) April 20, 2021
