On Saturday we have one of the EFL “Fast Track” referees Joshua Smith, in fact he still holds the record of being the youngest referee able to officiate at EFL games, being just 22 years old when took charge of his first EFL game.
I was convinced we had seen Cambridgeshire born Mr Smith before, but I’ve checked all the usual sites, and apparently not, so this will just be a 90 minute cameo for Josh as he is no doubt destined for bigger things and he wont want to soil his reputation by officiating at our lowly venue in the future.
This season he has been the man in the middle on just 14 occasions, mainly because he is hob knobbing it as the 4th Official in Championship & Premiership games. He has reached for the yellow card on 42 occasions, 1 of those turning into a double yellow, and the red card has seen the light of day just once.
Scott Fraser may not be called upon to test his skills from 12 yards as Mr Smith has only pointed at the spot on two occasions this term.
Ref Smith is assisted by Adrian Waters and Mark Jones on the flags, with Rob Smith (No Relation) taking care of the 4th official duties.
