Meet The Ref - Huddersfield Town v Latics

Latics are back in League One action on Saturday, an early drive up the M62 to Huddersfield for a 12:30 kick off at the Accu Stadium, Lincolnshire based official, Darren Drysdale is scheduled to be in charge.

 

The 54 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 11^th Latics game for Drysdale, the last coming in September this year, our 0:2 home defeat to Cardiff City, Matt Smith picking up a yellow card, Morgan Fox receiving a red for a shirt pull late in the game which also resulted in a penalty for Cardiff.

Drysdale’s last Huddersfield game came early on this season, their 1:0 home win over Stevenage in August.

Darren Drysdale’s Last Six Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
27 Sep 2025	League One	Latics 0:2 Cardiff	1R 1Y
29 Apr 2025	League One	Burton 1:1 Latics	0
15 Feb 2025	League One	Latics 0:2 Stockport	1Y
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

Darren Drysdale Card Watch 2025/26

Games – 15

Yellows – 44

Reds – 3

Penalty Awards – 2

Huddersfield Town v Wigan Athletic
Referee – Darren Drysdale
Assistants – Thomas Cooke and Mark Cunnliffe

Fourth Official – Zac Kennard-Kettle

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

Meet The FA Cup Ref - Latics v Barrow AFC

Latics are back at the Brick Community Stadium on Saturday, FA Cup fever gripping the fans with Barrow in town for a 2nd round tie, the referee for the game is scheduled to be Durham based official, Martin Coy.

Coy joined the National List of referees in August 2017, he is a former PE and Maths teacher. 

Previous Games

Martin Coy has seven Latics games under his belt so far, his most eventful one came in March 2022, our 2:0 home win over Fleetwood, issuing 3 yellows, all to our lads, Darikwa, Shinnie and Power and he also issued straight reds to both James McClean and Fleetwood's Joe Garner. 

His last Latics game came last season, our Boxing Day 0:1 away win over Rotherham, Baba Adeeko on the scoresheet, Jensen Weir picking up our one yellow card.

A word of caution, Martin Coy refereed one previous FA Cup game for the Latics, that too was a home tie, our defeat at the hands of Chorley back in November 2020, two goals up and cruising, it all fell apart with a red card for Adam Long and a team-talk devoid of any inspiration whatsoever by then manager, John Sheridan.

Martin Coy’s Last Six Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
26 Dec 2024	League One	Rotherham 0:1 Latics	2Y
13 Apr 2024	League One	Lincoln 0:1 Latics	5Y
01 Mar 2022	League One	Latics 2:0 Fleetwood	3Y & 1R
10 Aug 2021	EFL Cup	Hull City 1:1 Latics	0
08 Nov 2020	FA Cup 1st Rd	Latics 2:3 Chorley	2 Y & 1R
10 Oct 2020	League One	Crewe 3:0 Latics	0

Martin Coy Card Watch 2025/26

Games – 13

Yellows – 36

Reds – 2

Penalties – 1

Wigan Athletic v Barrow AFC

Referee – Martin Coy

Assistants – Jacob Lehane & Lewis Raper

4^th Official – Robert Claussen

Grab a listen to the latest podcast featuring a preview of the Barrow cup tie.

 

Meet The Ref - Latics v Burton Albion

Latics are back in action on Tuesday, Burton Albion are the visitors to the Brick Community Stadium for a League One game, the referee appointed for the fixture is Lancashire based official, Martin Woods.

Woods is in his fourth season on the National List.

Previous Games

Martin Woods has taken charge of two Latics games previously, our 2:0 defeat away at Reading in December 2023, issuing 5 yellow cards to Latics players including Stevie Humphrys for asking the assistant “was that not our throw-in”.

Woods also took charge of our FA Cup 1^st round win away at Carlisle last November, Scott Smith and Jonny Smith on the scoresheet in extra-time to give us a 0:2 win. Olakigbe and Rankine picking up the yellows.

Martin Woods Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
23 Dec 2023	League One	Reading 2:0 Latics	5Y
02 Nov 2024	FA Cup 1st Rd	Carlisle 0:2 Latics	2Y

Martin Woods Card Watch 2025/26

Games – 15

Yellows – 61

Reds – 3

Penalty Awards – 7

Wigan Athletic v Burton Albion
Referee – Martin Woods
Assistants – Richard Wigglesworth and Kevin Mulraine
Fourth Official – Mike Barlow

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

PWU Podcast Christmas Competition

A free to enter competition to win an 'Up the Tics' bauble, courtesy of Craft Essence UK 

 

The bespoke bauble is a must have for Latics supporters this festive period and you could win one by submitting your Festive 5-a-side Latics team, with the most imaginative, according to our panel of judges, winning the prize.

You can submit your team of five Festive Players via our twitter or bluesky feed, in our FaceBook group or simply replying in the comments section below.

Get your think caps on and get submitting, closing date, midnight, Wednesday 3rd December, 2025 

Good Luck & Up The Tics! 

If you'd love a bauble but not lucky enough to win the competition, you can access Craft Essence UK's on line store by clicking here

 

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast 

Meet The Ref - Latics v Stevenage

We are back at the Brick Community Stadium on Saturday when table topping Stevenage are in town for a League One fixture, the referee for this game is scheduled to be Chesterfield born official, Matt Corlett.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

33 year old Matt Corlett is in his third season in the EFL following promotion to the National List of refs in August 2023.

Previous Games

Corlett hasn’t refereed the Latics previously, though he was pencilled in last campaign for our 1:0 home win over Cambridge United in March but was replaced at the eleventh hour by Jamie O’Connor.

This season, Corlett has one Stevenage game under his belt, their 2:3 away win at Blackpool back in August.

Matt Corlett Card Watch 2025/26

Games – 14

Yellows – 56

Reds – 0

Penalties – 2

Wigan Athletic v Stevenage

Referee – Matt Corlett

Assistants – Matt Sowerby & Tom Harty

4^th Official – Richard Aspinall

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

Jordan's 40 Mile MND Challenge

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a devastating condition that progressively damages parts of the nervous system and leads to muscle weakness. It is currently life-shortening with no cure.

The disease and its impact have recently been in the public spotlight through the efforts of former Rugby League player Kevin Sinfield and a series of challenges and fundraising activities he has undertaken to show his support for his best mate and MND sufferer Rob Burrows, who sadly passed away in 2024.

Kevin has inspired many people to join the fight to help ease the suffering that MND causes and hopefully to one day find a cure.

One of those people who have taken that inspiration and is now set to do his own challenge to raise awareness and funds is Latics supporter and Wigan Warriors Wheelchair Rugby player, Jordan Burns.

Jordan, who himself is a wheelchair user, was moved by the determination and love shown by Kevin Sinfield and set his own target of raising £1100 for MND.

To achieve this Jordan is hoping to complete the challenge of covering 40 miles on a static handbike, the event is scheduled to take place in the foyer of Robin Park Leisure Centre, on Tuesday, 9^th December starting at 8am.

I caught up with Jordan as he was in training and preparing for the challenge by doing 2 hour stints on a handbike, he told me that he has currently been training for “six months” and that he is “enjoying the training, it’s helping with his mind, general fitness and giving him a target to push and aim for”

To put the task into some context, Jordan says “when I first started with the training I struggled to do 5 minutes on resistance level 1, now I’m up to 20 minutes at level 6“

The challenge will last over 6 hours with a couple of breaks scheduled in, Jordan is hoping that people will pop-in on the day to support him, there will be cakes provided and also some donation buckets. Jordan is anticipating that there will be times in the challenge where he will hit “the wall” and encourages people to come and egg him on during these times to help him through to completion.

If you can’t make it on the day but would love to make a donation then you can do so via Jordan’s Gofundme page 

Jordan is also fundraising for Wigan Warriors Community Foundation and there are links if you wish to donate to this great organisation across Jordan’s social media outlets.

Best of luck to my good friend, Jordan, I’m positive he will smash the challenge and meet his fundraising targets.

There is an interview with Jordan on the PWU Podcast AFC Wimbledon Preview