The Football League has now announced the officials that will take charge of the match between Lincoln City and Premier League side West Ham United in the League Cup on Wednesday 27th September (19:45).
Referee: Josh Smith.
Assistants Referees: Edward Smart and Nick Greenhalgh.
Fourth Official: Leigh Doughty.
QUIZ: How much can you remember/do you know about the League Cup ties between Lincoln City and West Ham United in 1982? Have a go at the quiz at the bottom of the page!
You can discuss this refereeing appointment here, or in the comments at the bottom as well as get involved with our pre-match discussion, and many other topics on our 100% Imps forum!
Josh Smith has been in the middle for 2 matches involving Lincoln City and no matches involving The Hammers.
Smith oversaw the 0-0 draw at home against Shrewsbury Town in October 2019, in a match which saw him show 2 yellow cards (Aaron Pierre and Oliver Norburn) and 1 red card (Cian Bolger).
His second match involving The Imps was in April 2021 away at Burton Albion. City won 1-0 on that occasion and Smith brandished just two yellow cards, both of which were for the home side (Mike Fondop-Talom and Terry Taylor).
He received an average rating of 7.81 following the 1-0 win away at Burton Albion during the 2020/21 season. Some of the comments can be found below:
sedgleyimp: “Personally I thought he was very good. Let the game flow. Used common sense and only resorted to bookings once Burton got a bit snarky at the end.
8/10 for me.”
Barney Imp: “8 from me too.
Common sense shown in general, a couple of instances that we might have been given a free kick and weren’t, mainly for tugs, knocks and shoves on Morton. He did make up for it a little by getting in Burton’s way a couple of times and letting our passes run through his legs…
Much better than many we have endured…”
hulloutpost “Made it all look pretty effortless to be honest. Maybe could have booked one or two more of theirs but I’m nit picking. 9”
Josh Smith oversaw a total of 35 matches during the 2022/23 season, most of which were in the Championship, though he was most card-happy in the League One encounter between Charlton Athletic and Ipswich Town (4-4) when he showed 9 yellow cards, including a booking for former Imps loanee Tyreece John-Jules.
So far this season, Smith has refereed 8 matches, showing 25 yellow cards and 1 red card. The only red card he has shown so far this season came in the 1-1 draw between Luton Town and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League when he sent off Jeanricner Bellegarde.
Sources: English Football League & Soccer Base.
West Ham United (h): Match Officials Confirmed:https://t.co/vIZb42I2jn#WeAreImps #WHUFC #CarabaoCup
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) September 26, 2023
