Wigan’s Lewis Smith, recently promoted to the Premier League, is the referee in charge of Saturday’s trip to Sheff Utd.
Referee >>> Lewis Smith (Wigan), went from National League to Premier League inside ten months on the fast track programme.
Assistants >>> Bhupinder Singh Gill (London) and Hugh Gilroy (London)
Fourth Official >>> Scott Jackson (Clitheroe)
Bristol City 1 QPR 1, Saturday December 13, 2024, Championship
Jimmy Dunne was caught napping twice in the first three minutes, first by a long throw, then by ball in behind he thought was going out for a goal kick only for an opponent to appear and win a free kick. That was cleared, and cleared again, before Mehmeti struck a first time shot back through the crowd and off the base of the post. The next serious threat came down that side as well, though this time Dunne had surely been fouled up on the halfway line – blatantly shoved into touch by Mehmeti. Referee Lewis Smith, implausibly, awarded the free kick the opposite way and with QPR largely set up for their own set piece City were able to act quickly and break for half a handball appeal in the area.
Cue another City break downfield, a desperate Sam Field swipe on the edge of the box, and another City free kick for which Liam Manning was no longer in pissing about mood. Scott Twine was summoned as designated kicker and, after some needless toying around with the positioning of ball and opponents in the wall, neither of which referee Smith should have tolerated, he lifted a typically glorious kick over all else involved and into the net for one nil with his first touch of the game.
Bristol City: O’Leary 4; Vyner 6, Dickie 7, McNally 7, Pring 5; Bird 6, Knight 7; Hirakawa 6 (Twine 59, 7), Earthy 6 (Bell 77, 6), Mehmeti 6; Wells 5 (Mayulu 77, 6)
Subs not used: Atkinson, Bajic, Cornick. McRorie, McGuane, Roberts
Goals: Twine 60 (unassisted)
Yellow Cards: Knight 26 (foul)
QPR: Nardi 7; Dunne 6, Cook 7, Morrison 7, Ashby 4 (Paal 80, -); Varane 6, Field 6; Saito 6 (Chair 74, 6), Andersen 4 (Madsen 74, 5), Smyth 7 (Bennie 88, -); Kolli 4 (Lloyd 46, 5)
Subs not used: Fox, Frey, Morgan, Walsh
Goals: Smyth 65 (assisted Varane)
Yellow Cards: Dunne 45+2 (foul), Field 58 (foul)
Referee – Lewis Smith (Wigan) 6 Few bizarre calls, but when you set up to chase the opposition around out of possession for two hours you’re not going to get many decisions you like out of the referee.
QPR 2 Millwall 0, Saturday January 20, 2024, Championship
Then he curled a long ranger wide himself as part of a successful high press advocated by Marti Cifuentes – booked by rookie referee Lewis Smith early on for waving an imaginary card around after a bad tackle on Chris Willock and dressed like somebody with a spot on Pards Pardew’s regular Saturday night table at Tiger Tiger. London Fire Brigade will have to cut him out of those jeans.
Probably an escape for Colback in there too. With Cannon down feigning injury to get the play stopped and relieve the pressure, the now traditional ceremonial hail of coins, lighters and other sundries tumbled down from the away end towards the home players. Colback picked one of them up, and heaved it back from whence it came into the crowd of Millwall fans. Nooooooooo Ben. If the referee had seen him do it he’d surely have been dismissed.
Second half, more of the same. Good build up, Dykes heads wide. Effective high press, Dykes shoots at the keeper. Keeping the ball from a throw in (fuck me dead), and what looks like a pretty clear penalty for Wes Harding handling in the area. Second goal. Second goal please. Why can’t we just have a nice time?
QPR: Begovic 5; Cannon 5, Cook 7, Clarke-Salter 6, Paal 6; Field 7, Colback 8; Willock 5 (Adomah 84, -), Dykes 7, Chair 7 (Larkeche 90+4, -); Armstrong 7 (Dixon-Bonner 89, -)
Subs not used: Dunne, Fox, Drewe, Walsh, Pedder, Talla
Goals: Chair 27 (assisted Willock), Armstrong 87 (assisted Colback)
Millwall: Sarkic 4; McNamara 5, Harding 5, Cooper 6; Norton-Cuffy 5 (Tanganga 67, 6), Honeyman 6, Mitchell 5, Bryan 5 (Wallace 67, 5); Watmore 4, Flemming 4, Nisbet 4 (Longman 56, 6)
Subs not used: Campbell, Saville, De Norre, Esse, Bialkowski, Grant
Yellow Cards: Mitchell 32 (foul), Flemming 85 (foul)
Referee – Lewis Smith (Wigan) 6 Premier League referee, and Huddersfield Town fan, Bobby Madley was meant to be down for this game. Instead we ended up with the far less experienced Lewis Smith doing just his sixth Championship match. A really big ask – London derby, big Millwall following, QPR desperate for points – and initially I thought he looked a little out of his depth and the game would prove too much for him. He grew from there, and I think this was a pretty impressive display from a young official in a game like this, but that looks a penalty to me in the second half.
There’s fast track, and then there’s going from National League to Premier League in ten months. Wigan Athletic season ticket holder Lewis Smith completed that feat in 2024 when he took charge of Fulham v Aston Villa in the top flight in February. Aged just 30, he’s the youngest referee at that level since Michael Oliver in 2010.
The PGMOL have been working him hard, with 44 appointments in 2023/24 and 172 yellows (3.52) with six reds. Another 52 games last season and it was an eclectic mix which included three games in Japan’s J-League to begin the campaign as part of an ongoing refereeing exchange programme between the two divisions. There were seven Premier League games among those, but also another seven in the Conference North/South divisions. He did the FA Trophy final between Aldershot and Spennymoor and a League Two play-off between Wimbledon and Notts County. He had three Sheff Utd games, including derbies away at Leeds and at home to Sheff Wed – they lost 2-0 at Elland Road, beat the Owls 1-0 here and won 1-0 at Luton.
This season he’s done 15 games in a weirdly equal split between non-league and the Championship. He’s done seven games in Conference North and South, including eight yellows and a red at AFC Totton v Weston Super Mare which is his biggest haul so far, and seven in the Championship including Sheff Utd’s 1-0 loss at Middlesbrough.
Sheff Utd are 2-0-2 from four, QPR are 1-1-0 from two.
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