The Football League has now announced the officials that will take charge of the match between Lincoln City and Shrewsbury Town in Sky Bet League One.
Lincoln City host Shrewsbury Town on Friday, October 18 for the match at Sincil Bank and the match carries a 7.45pm kick-off.
Referee: Josh Smith.
Assistants Refs: Grant Taylor and Ian Dudley.
Fourth Official: Samuel Barrott.
Tomorrow night’s referee Josh Smith only spent just one season at National League level, but The Imps match versus The Shrews will not be his first taste of being the man in the middle for a 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.
Josh 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: 2019/20 Stats:
24/08/19: Plymouth Argyle 3-0 Walsall (League Two) – 5 yellow cards and 1 red card
31/08/19: Oldham Athletic 0-1 Colchester United (League Two) – 4 yellow cards
03/09/19: Northampton Town 0-2 Peterborough United (EFL Trophy) – 2 yellow cards
07/09/19: Morecambe 2-2 Salford City (League Two) – 1 yellow card
17/09/19: Leyton Orient 1-2 Crewe Alexandra (League Two) – 2 yellow cards
21/09/19: Port Vale 2-2 Mansfield Town (League Two) – 7 yellow cards
05/10/19: Cambridge United 2-2 Macclesfield Town (League Two) – 4 yellow cards
08/10/19: Wycombe Wanderers 0-1 Stevenage (EFL Trophy) – 5 yellow cards
TOTALS: Matches: 8 | Yellow Cards: 30 | Red Cards: 1
Josh Smith was the man in the middle for 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: EFL, Soccer Base & Stamford Mercury.
Who Are The League One Managers? No.19: Sam Ricketts (Shrewsbury Town)
Lincoln City v Shrewsbury Town – Recently Promoted Referee Appointed:https://t.co/VUYgDdjcLF#ImpsAsOne #ProudToBeImps #Salop
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) October 17, 2019
https://www.facebook.com/VitalLincolnCity/posts/2466670986702465
