Same as last year for man in the middle

The 35 year old Wright has been on the Football League list as a referee since 2003, but to date the game last season at the Withdean has been his only Burnley game. It was a game with few complaints too, after an early flourish of free kicks against us he settled down and had a good game.

His record suggests he is not a referee to go over the top, and that applies to his cards. In the previous two seasons he’s averaged around three cards per game although this has increased slightly this season.

So far, in 20 games, he has handed out 68 yellow cards and 5 red cards. As far as the yellow cards are concerned we shouldn’t be more concerned than Brighton, 36 of them have been given to home team players with just 30 to away team players.

In his last game he sent off Hartlepool’s Chris Llewellyn in their 0-0 home draw against Tranmere, but the other four players who have received his red card have all been playing for the away teams. They were Colchester goalkeeper Aidan Davison in a 1-1 draw at Franchise, Paul Furlong at QPR although they went on to win 2-1 at Derby, and both Russell Perret and Kevin Nicholls of Luton as they went down 2-0 at Norwich.

But he’s not a referee who has been in the news much, and he’s not a referee I am expecting too many problems from.

The assistant referees will be Michael Bull (Essex) and Michael McCoy (Kent) whilst Andrew Sainsbury (Wiltshire) will be the fourth official.

Previous Burnley games:

Season	Opps	V	Res	Y	R	Burnley players carded
a
2004/05	Brighton	a	1-0	1	0	Sinclair

Same as last year for man in the middle

Last updated : 31 January 2006 By Tony Scholes