Meet The Ref - Latics v Wimbledon

We’re back at the DW Stadium on Saturday, fellow strugglers AFC Wimbledon will be in town for a genuine six-pointer, the man charged with keeping peace on the field of play is Sunderland official, Andy Haines.

 

Andy Haines

The 56 year old first got into refereeing when he lived in London, he was secretary for a seven-a-side league which struggled to recruit enough referees, he was bemoaning this fact to a friend who said ‘Then why don’t you get yourself a whistle’ came the blunt retort. ‘Me and my big mouth’ Andy says, ‘But that’s what I did.’

 

Haines progressed his refereeing career through the Spartan, South Midlands and Southern leagues and then, on moving to Sunderland in 2000, the Wearside and Northern leagues. The EDF project manager finally became a Football League referee in 2005

 

‘When I was in London, I just did it for the enjoyment’ Haines says. ‘I had no idea how to get up the ladder, how to get promoted. I never had any dizzy expectations. It was only when I’d moved to the North-East that I suddenly realised where I could get to.

 

‘Everyone has their own style but I always try to referee with a smile on my face. Hopefully, after 90 minutes, it’s still there. OK, perhaps not after every game!’

 

When asked about his ambitions Haines says – ‘I’d love to referee at Wembley, that would have to be the highlight of most referees’ careers

 

‘Maybe for a play-off final, any FA final would do me actually. To officiate at the national stadium, that’s really something to go for.’

 

Andy Haines has refereed the Latics on three occasions:

 

Competition	Date	Result
League One	03 Oct 2015	Latics 0:0 Walsall
League One	09 Dec 2017	Latics 2:0 Fleetwood Town
EFL Trophy	22 Sep 2020	Latics 6:1 Liverpool U23

 

Andy Haines Card Watch 2020/21  

Games – 20

Yellows – 48

Reds – 3

Penalties Awarded – 4

 

Andy Haines’ last game in charge was the League 2 fixture Tranmere Rovers 3:2 Harrogate Town on 26 January. In this game Haines issued 4 yellow cards, a red card and awarded a penalty.

Wigan Athletic v AFC Wimbledon
Referee – Andy Haines
Assistants – Alan Clayton & Joe Simpson
Fourth Official – David Hunt

 

Meet The Ref - Swindon Town v Latics

Latics are set to face John Sheridan’s Swindon Town on Tuesday evening in a rearranged game that was originally due to take place on Saturday 2^nd January but was postponed.

 

David Rock

The referee for the game will be Hertfordshire official, David Rock.

 

This is Rock’s second season in the EFL and of his 18 games so far this campaign 7 have been at League 1 level, with 5 coming in League 2, the other 6 have been spread around the EFL Trophy (3), FA Cup (2) and the EFL Cup (1).

 

Away from football, Rock works as a PE Training and Development officer for a sports education company.

 

This will be Dave’s first Latics game, he has refereed Swindon on two occasions, both last season and both at the County Ground, their 0:2 defeat against Newport County in September 2019 and the Robins 2:0 win over Oldham in December 2019, both games were League 2 fixtures.

 

David Rock Card Watch 2020/21  

Games – 20

Yellows – 63

Reds – 3

Penalties Awarded – 5

 

David Rock’s last game in charge was the League 1 fixture Oxford United 2:0 Bristol Rovers on 23 January. On Saturday 30 January he was 4^th official for the goalless draw between Forest Green Rovers and Cheltenham Town in League 2

Swindon Town v Wigan Athletic
Referee - David Rock
Assistants - Andy Aylott & Chris Husband
Fourth Official - Carl Brook

 

The latest podcast - Swindon Preview

Any Previous? Swindon v Latics - February 2021

 Latics and Swindon have met 13 times down the years, we have five wins to Swindon’s four.

 

The first meeting came in the 1986/87 season, Lou Macari was in charge at the County Ground and we met four times that campaign, first two coming in the league, a win a piece, the next two were in the playoffs for a place in English Football’s second tier.

 

The first leg was at Springfield Park, Latics raced into a two goal lead with efforts from Chris Thompson and David Lowe, but the appearance of the Northern Lights over the Shevington End proved to be a bad omen and Swindon fought back to 2:2 and then scored a late winner to take a lead into the 2^nd leg, that game ended goalless and Swindon gained promotion. 

 

Match Highlights

 

 

Memorable Match Swindon 1:4 Latics

We have just the one win from 7 visits to the County Ground, that came on our last meeting with Swindon, Good Friday 2016, it was billed as supposedly a potential banana skin, but Latics swaggered into town put in a memorable performance and, courtesy of two goals from Will Grigg and one each from Max Power and Sam Morsy, recorded an important win one our way to picking up the League 1 title.

 

Team – Jaaskelainen; Daniels, Morgan, McCann, Wabara, Warnock, Morsy, Perkins, Power (Chow 64), Wildschut (Davies 71), Grigg (Vuckic 75)

 

Unused Subs – Nicholls, Barnett, Kellett, Colclough

Match Highlights

 

 

Full Record v Swindon Town

Played – 13

Won – 5

Drawn – 4

Lost – 4

 

Last Six Meetings

Competition	Date	Result
League 1	25 Mar 2016	Swindon Town 1:4 Latics
League 1	31 Oct 2015	Latics 1:0 Swindon Town
FA Cup	07 Jan 2012	Swindon Town 2:1 Latics
League Division 2	25 Jan 2003	Swindon Town 2:1 Latics
League Division 2	28 Dec 2002	Latics 2:0 Swindon Town
League Division 2	16 Mar 2002	Swindon Town 1:1 Latics