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Some would say that he should have sent off Sheffield United keeper and Coronation Street star Tyrone Dobbs (or is it Paddy Kenny) but this was the same referee who allowed Nik Michopoulos to stay on at Preston for the same offence last season. OK, Nik didn’t handle outside the box but the assistant said he did and Pearson probably should have sent him off after backing the man on the line.
Last season both his Burnley games were away from Turf Moor and both ended in 3-2 wins, the other was at Bradford. He handed out eleven yellow cards in the two games with nine of them to Burnley players and this was no surprise given Pearson’s record of usually favouring the home team.
That was certainly the case on his first visit to the Turf, a 2-0 win over Watford in the Waddle season. He booked Glen Little but four Watford players joined him.
This season he has been somewhat fairer. He is not a referee to hand out cards willy nilly and in 24 games there have been 76 yellow cards and just 4 red cards. The balance on yellow cards is much closer this season and is 32 to home team players and 44 to away team players with the reds evenly split. In previous seasons the ratio has been close to 1 home player per 3 away players.
It is only his over eagerness to book away players that disappoints, his record is well known amongst other referees, and he is rarely involved in any major incidents.