The Football League has now announced the officials that will take charge of the match between Lincoln City and Bolton Wanderers at Sincil Bank in League One on Tuesday 26th December (15:00).
Referee: Neil Hair.
Assistants Referees: Matthew Sowerby and Christopher Ward.
Fourth Official: Ruebyn Ricardo.
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You can discuss this refereeing appointment here, and get involved with our pre-match discussion!
This will be the fifth time he has been the man in the middle for a match involving Lincoln City and the seventh time for a match involving Bolton Wanderers. It will also be the third time he has officiated a match between the two sides, having overseen the 5-1 win by The Imps in January 2020 (2 yellow cards, including a booking for Conor Coventry) and the 2-0 win for Bolton in October 2022 (5 yellow cards, including bookings for Adam Jackson and Ben House).
His most recent match involving City was the 2-0 defeat away at Bolton last season, which has been covered above, so we’ll take a look at the match before that, which was the 2-1 win away at Plymouth Argyle in January 2022, in a match which saw him show 5 yellow cards, 4 of which were for City players: Cohen Bramall, Teddy Bishop, Conor McGrandles and Liam Cullen.
His most recent match involving the visitors was their 2-0 defeat at home versus Ipswich Town in March last season, in a match which saw him brandish 7 yellow cards, including bookings for Kyle Dempsey and Aaron Morley.
Neil Hair was the man in the middle for 28 matches during the 2022/23 season. In those matches, he showed 111 yellow cards (3.96) and 6 red cards. He was most card happy in the League One match between Plymouth Argyle and Accrington Stanley (3-0) when he showed 7 yellow cards and 2 red cards, including a booking for former Bolton Wanderers loanee and current City midfielder Ethan Hamilton.
So far this season he has refereed 13 matches, showing 44 yellow cards (3.38) and 3 red cards. He showed 6 yellow cards in the League One encounter between Exeter City and Northampton Town (0-2) in September, including a booking for former Imps player Patrick Brough.
Sources: English Football League & Soccer Base.
– @LincolnCity_FC v @OfficialBWFC: Match Officials Confirmed:https://t.co/vjephjH7SO#WeAreImps #BWFC
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) December 23, 2023
