Ref Assessor - Stoke City (A)

After the recent performances of referees Ray Olivier and Gary Sutton, Burnley fans will be hoping for a better performance from Merseyside official Chris Foy as we head to the Britannia Stadium.

If Foy’s performances in his other Burnley matches are anything to go by then we should have little problem with the Premiership official. Foy did not officiate in a Burnley game last year but was twice officiating the Clarets in the 2004/05 season.

One of those matches was the Carling Cup shock against Premiership Aston Villa. On that occasion he had a very good game allowing the game to flow freely. The only caution was for Tony Grant in a good-natured match, which also saw Robbie Blake fail to convert from the penalty spot.

The other match he officiated the Clarets in that season was in our goalless draw away at Rotherham. It was a match that was lacking in any real quality although the result was a match in which Foy had little to get involved with. Again though he only produced the one yellow card, cautioning Michael Duff.

He took charge of our Carling Cup exit at the hands of Wolves in the 2003/04 season, when he cautioned Graham Branch and Joey Gudjonson.. He was also at Turf Moor for an interesting start to the season. It was a match in which he produced four yellow cards and two red cards in a game that also saw five goals. 

Crystal Palace were the side who picked up the two red cards with Wayne Routledge sent-off after 10 minutes and then in the second half Shaun Derry picked up the second red card of the game. Despite being down to nine men it was still enough for Palace to win 3-2. Palace had been 1-0 up due to a penalty by Dougie Freedman but then went 2-1 down. They then came back to 2-2 with ten men, and then took the lead and held out with Freedman grabbing a hat-trick.

Foy is not usually a referee who goes mad with the cards and last season he produced 103 yellow cards from 43 games, he also produced 10 red cards. Last season  he also finished with the honour of the League One Play-off Final. This season he has refereed six matches, 3 of which have been in the Premiership. He has produced 18 yellow cards and has yet to show a red card.

He will be assisted by Mr. Michael Murphy and Mr. Ceri Richards. Ceri Richards was the replacement for assistant Peter Kirkup in last seasons FA Cup Final, he is also on the FIFA list of referees. The fourth official will be Mr. Phil Gibbs.

Many thanks as always to the Ref Assessor.