Mathieson back at Turf Moor

Mathieson should be a familiar figure given the number of times he's refereed at Burnley. Now in his 18th season as a Football League referee and at the age of 48 is one of the longest serving of referees.

Overall I wouldn't say there have been too many problems but he's certainly had his moments although. In all the Burnley games he's refereed there has been just one red card and there could be no real complaints when he sent off Steve Davis on Boxing Day 1999 at Bury for handling on the line.

Probably his most notable Boxing Day decision with the Clarets, and he's refereed us three times on that date, came four years ago when he allowed the Sheffield Wednesday penalty without making the necessary checks with goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly. It was a very poor decision.

That last game, against MK Franchise, passed without much incident but one concern was his lack of dealing with their tactic of standing over the ball every time a free kick was given against them. He didn't once take any action as they continued to use this tactic to slow the game down.

This season he's refereed 16 games in which he's handed out 43 yellow cards of which 21 have gone to home team players and 22 to away team players. Only one player has seen his red card; that's Derby goalkeeper Frank Fielding in their 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest.

Last time out, Mathieson was refereeing the League One game between Huddersfield and Walsall two weeks ago. The game ended 1-1 and there was also one yellow card for each team; for Huddersfield's Jack Hunt and Alex Nicholls of Walsall.

Mathieson is currently in 41st place in RATE THE REF with a rating of 51.07.

The assistant referees tomorrow are Paul Curry (Northumberland) and Scott Duncan (Newcastle-upon-Tyne). The fourth official is Football League referee Paul Tierney (Wigan).

Previous Burnley Games