Uriah is man in the middle

He is still refereering Premiership games but this season only four of his ten games to date have been in that league with the other six spread across the three divisions of the Football League including three in League Two.

It's in League Two that his red cards have appeared for the only time this season, and that was in the local derby between Chester and Wrexham at the Saunders Honda Stadium in August. He dismissed Chester's Ricky Ravenhill midway through the first half with the score at 0-0, and then just thirteen minutes from the end he evened it up with the dismissal of Steve Evans the Wrexham defender with the Welsh club by then 2-0 up.

As for yellow cards, it is fair to say he has been reasonably busy. Last season he averaged just over two per game but he's already handed out no fewer than 36 yellow cards in his ten games. Eight of his first nine yellow cards this season went to away players but he's more than evened that up with 19 to home players and 17 to away players.

It was almost a year ago that we last saw Uriah, that was our Carling Cup defeat at Villa Park, but this will be the second time this season he has taken charge of a Southend game, having previously refereed their 3-3 home draw against Norwich.

We know what we are going to get, we'll get a referee who on his day will demand to be the centre of attention, but we'll also get a referee who is as fit as any in the league and will be closer to the play than most, that helps him to get more decisions right than some.

Tonight he will be assisted by Trevor Massey (Cheshire) and Bob Pollock (Merseyside) whilst Football League referee Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) will be acting as fourth official.

Previous Burnley games:

Season	Opps	V	Res	Y	R	Burnley players carded
a
2005/06	Aston Villa	a	0-1	0	0	.
2003/04	Wigan	a	0-0	5	0	Blake Grant May McGregor
2003/04	Derby	a	0-2	3	1	Little Chaplow Gnohere(red)
2000/01	Grimsby	a	0-1	5	0	Mullin Thomas
2000/01	Huddersfield	a	1-0	5	0	Cook Mullin Thomas