Meet The Ref - Latics v Huddersfield Town

Tuesday evening sees us welcome high flying Huddersfield Town to the Brick Community Stadium, the referee for the game is scheduled to be Cleveland official, Ross Joyce.

The 36 year old from Eston near Middlesbrough began refereeing as a punishment, let me explain, Joyce was sent off in a youth team game for a tirade of foul language aimed at the match official, as part of his punishment he was ordered to attend a six week refereeing programme.

Ross says - "It was a one-off, a cup game, which was important, and I lost my temper, got a bit upset and swore at the referee, so he sent me off for it

"The club I was playing for recommended I did the course and it went from there.

"I love being a referee. It's very enjoyable and exciting as every game brings a new challenge. It's a great way to be involved in the game and although it takes a lot of commitment, it's definitely worth it come a Saturday afternoon."

Ross Joyce was promoted to the National List of ref’s for the 2015/16 season, he has now got over 300 games in League Football under his belt.

Previous Games

The first of Joyce’s 10 Latics game was our 3:1 home win over Chesterfield in his first season officiating in the League, he had two Latics’ games last season, our first home game of the campaign against Northampton and an EFL Trophy away day at Tranmere.

Joyce works as a sports development coach in his day job.

Ross Joyce’s Last Six Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
14 Nov 2023	EFL Trophy	Tranmere 0:0 Latics	3Y
12 Aug 2023	League One	Latics 2:1 Northampton	2Y
16 Apr 2022	League One	Latics 1:2 Cambridge	2Y
04 Jan 2022	EFL Trophy	Oldham 0:6 Latics	0
02 Nov 2021	League One	Fleetwood 2:3 Latics	2Y
27 Mar 2021	League One	Latics 0:0 Ipswich	3Y

Ross Joyce Card Watch 2024/25

Games – 21

Yellows – 87

Reds – 2

Penalties – 0

Wigan Athletic v Huddersfield Town

Referee – Ross Joyce

Assistants – Sam Clayton & Matt Parry

4^th Official – Aaron Jackson

Grab a listen to the latest podcast featuring a preview of the Huddersfield game.

Meet The Ref - Wycombe v Latics

Latics are on the road again on Saturday, a trip to high flying Wycombe Wanderers, the referee for the game is scheduled to be Freckleton official, Leigh Doughty.

A highly thought of referee, Doughty went from refereeing in the National League back in May 2019 to the Select Group 2 of full time refs by the start 2020-21 season.

The 34 year old former PE Teacher has 199 games under his belt with 89 of those coming at Championship level.

 Previous Games

Leigh Doughty has taken charge of two Latics games previously, they both came at the Brick, a 0:2 defeat by Sunderland in the EFL Cup in 2021 and a hammering from Middlesbrough, 1:4, in October 2022.

So far this season, Doughty has been in charge of 16 games, 12 of those in the Championship.

 Leigh Doughty Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
19 Oct 2022	Championship	Latics 1:4 Middlesbrough	1Y
21 Sep 2021	EFL Cup	Latics 0:2 Sunderland	1Y

Leigh Doughty Card Watch 2024/25

Games – 16

Yellows – 71

Reds – 1

Penalties – 1

Wycombe Wanderers v Wigan Athletic

Referee – Leigh Doughty

Assistants – Nigel Lugg & Abbas Khan

4^th Official – Isaac Searle

Grab a listen to the latest podcast featuring a preview of the Wycombe Wanderers game.

Meet The Ref - Crawley Town v Latics

Latics are on the road to West Sussex on Tuesday for a first ever visit to the Broadfield Stadium to face Crawley Town in a League One clash, Derby based official, Richard Eley is scheduled to be in charge.

 

The 27 year old is in his 1^st season as an EFL referee and Eley has only one full EFL game under his belt, Doncaster v Harrogate in League Two on the 25^th January this year, though he did step up to take charge of the later part of the Stockport v Crewe game last season when he was 4^th official, following an injury to ref Neil Hair.

Previous Games

Talking of 4^th Official, Eley was 4^th official for our opening game of this season, our 0:1 home defeat to Charlton in August.

As well as his one League Two game, Eley has been in charge of games in the National League (12) and the EFL Trophy (1) this season.

Also whilst we’re talking 4^th officials, the scheduled 4^th official is well known to everyone connected to the Latics, a certain Mr Alan Young, yes that one, just in case you can’t recall, he was the referee for our trip to Stevenage last season.

Pregame he told the players he intends to let the game flow and keep his cards in his pocket, he subsequently blew up 36 times, booking 11 Latics players, yellow carding Shaun Maloney and Graham Barrow, awarding a dubious penalty and sending off Callum Lang for two questionable yellow cards and showing a straight red to Stevenage player Alex MacDonald, all in a game without a strong challenge!

Richard Eley Card Watch 2024/25

Games – 14

Yellows –58

Reds – 0

Penalty Awards – 3

Crawley Town v Wigan Athletic
Referee – Richard Eley
Assistants – Andy Bennett and Dan Bonneywell
Fourth Official – Alan Young

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast featuring a preview of the Crawley Town game.

Meet The Ref - Latics v Stockport County

Latics are back at the Brick Community Stadium on Saturday, our third home game in a row, 4^th in the table Stockport County are the visitors for a League One clash, Lincolnshire based official, Darren Drysdale is scheduled to be in charge.

 

The 53 year old referee is a sergeant in the RAF and currently based at RAF Waddington. So he’ll be used to handing out the ‘marching orders’ if any player steps out of line, he does have a bit of a reputation as a tough man too.

A veteran of over 550 games, Drysdale is a vastly experienced referee.

Previous Games

This will be the 8^th Latics game for Drysdale, the last two came last season, the first in December 2023 when he stood in for Ben Toner in our League One home win against Carlisle, booking Liam Morrison, Sean Clare and Liam Shaw, plus 6 Carlisle players.

The second game came in late March, our 1:1 home draw with Burton Albion, Scotty Smith picking up a yellow that day, plus four Burton yellows.

Darren Drysadale’s last Stockport game came during the 2023/24 season, a 2:1 away defeat at Newport County on the 25^th November 2023.

Darren Drysdale’s Last Six Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
29 Mar 2024	League One	Latics 1:1 Burton	1Y
29 Dec 2023	League One	Latics 2:0 Carlisle	3Y
26 Jan 2021	League 1	Latics 0:5 Blackpool	1Y
01 Dec 2017	FA Cup	AFC Fylde 1:1 Latics	0
22 Aug 2017	EFL Cup	Aston Villa 4:1 Latics	1Y
30 Jan 2016	League 1	Latics 3:0 Port Vale	0

Darren Drysdale Card Watch 2024/25

Games – 19

Yellows –64

Reds – 2

Penalty Awards – 5

 Wigan Athletic v Stockport County
Referee – Darren Drysdale
Assistants – Dan Woodward and Adam Nichol
Fourth Official – Ollie Yates

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast featuring a preview of the Stockport County game.