Same again – Joslin at Ipswich

"The game was played in an excellent spirit and was allowed to be by an excellent referee, Phil Joslin, who did all he could to keep the game going. On the only occasion he threatened a yellow card for Gareth Taylor he changed his mind after a discussion with the Ipswich goalkeeper Marshall. It was refreshing to see."

That was after the Ipswich game last season and then after our win at Stoke I wrote,

"Referee Phil Joslin for the second time this season kept his cards in his pocket at a Burnley game. He made some mistakes for sure this afternoon but allowed the game to flow and did a good job for me. He was almost unnoticeable at times and that is just how it should be."

This season Joslin is certainly below the average for cards compared to most referees and is averaging just about three yellows per game with 31 in 10 games and 3 red cards to be added to that.

Two of those red cards came in one incident in the First Division game between Walsall and Cardiff that saw Zigor Aranalde and former Claret Alan Lee dismissed. He certainly didn’t have much option with either.

On Saturday he booked four Coventry players in their 2-1 defeat at Millwall but before that he had handed out exactly the same number of cards to home team players as away team players.

Now in his fifth season he is unlikely to find himself getting promoted, his handling of games doesn’t follow the required policy of Don and Hackett. Last season he handed out just 80 yellow cards in 39 games and only 3 red cards.

Hopefully we will see another Joslin style performance at Portman Road this season where he allows the players to play and we hardly notice him.

He will be assisted at Ipswich by John Hayto from Essex and Steve Tomlinson from Hampshire.

Previous Burnley games: