Refs for Palace and Wigan games announced

The referee for Wednesday evening’s match against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park will be Phil Dowd. Mr Dowd has handed out a stonking 97 yellow cards already from just 26 games this season (he gave 130 in total for the whole of last season so looks like he’s on for a similar amount this year!) The most he’s ever given in one game this season is seven, which he’s done four times this season – and one of those occasions was when we beat Bradford 4-0 last August; Breen, Kyle and Thirlwell were the SAFC culprits on that occasion.

The referee for Saturday’s match against Wigan at the JJB will be Phil Crossley. Mr Crossley has handed out 93 yellow cards this season from 30 games (compared with only 72 in 27 games last season). The most he’s ever given in one game this season is eight, when Gillingham beat Forest a few weeks ago. Mr Crossley was the man in the middle when we lost 4-0 to Cardiff in February, when he sent off Jocky Bjorklund.