Josh Smith breaks his QPR duck at Blackpool — referee

One of the EFL’s up and coming referees, Josh Smith, gets his first QPR game with our Saturday night televised trip to Blackpool.

Referee: >>> Josh Smith (Lincolnshire), at 28 Smith is one of the youngest referees on the EFL circuit.

Assistants >>> Jonathan Hunt (Merseyside) and Akil Howson (Leicestershire)

Fourth official: >>> Andy Haines (Tyne and Wear)

History

First QPR appointment.

Stats

Josh Smith was promoted onto the Football League list for the 2019/20 season aged 26, despite an operation to pin a regularly dislocated shoulder the season before. The former Bourne Grammar School student is one of the EFL’s youngest officials and he began life at this level with 26 appointments, 81 yellows and six reds, spread across Leagues One and Two and concluding with a League Two play-off semi-final between Colchester and Exeter.

His first Championship appointment, in October 2020, was quite a thing — eight yellows and a red in Huddersfield’s 2-1 home defeat against Preston. That was part of a 54 yellows and two reds from 19 games season in 2020/21 which included five Championship games. It also featured five yellows in Blackpool’s 1-0 home win against Portsmouth in League One.

He’s been very busy this season with 15 games already, eight of those in the Championship, with 50 yellows and two reds. He was entrusted with Blackpool’s semi-local Lancashire derby with Blackburn here in October, won by the home side 2-1 with five bookings in total. Six yellows and a red, along with a nonsense disallowed goal, at Bolton 0-0 Burton is his biggest haul so far, and also one of the most shambolically handled games to this point this season.

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Pictures — Action Images

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