Nottinghamshire referee David Coote will be in charge of the Sky Bet League One match between Scunthorpe United and Colchester United on Saturday.
Coote refereed the League One play-off final in May, when Leyton Orient were beaten by Rotherham and he has officiated just one match so far this term. That came last weekend, when Tranmere were beaten by Plymouth at Prenton Park, and he booked three players.Last season he oversaw 35 matches, distributing 111 yellow cards and four reds.
He refereed the Iron twice in that 2013/14 campaign, first last September when we won 1-0 at Southend’s Roots Hall, the second in the 0-0 draw with Grimsby in the FA Cup at Boundary Park. In both games, he only booked one Iron player - Etienne Esajas - in the latter fixture.
In the season before that, he officiated us twice, sending off Josh Walker in our away loss at Hartlepool and he booked Walker and Callum Kennedy four months later when we beat Carlisle at home.
Coote has never refereed a Colchester match since he was promoted to the list of Football League referees in 2010.
It is worth noting that Saturday’s man in charge is the son of David Coote senior, who played cricket for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club in 1977.
Coote junior, from Winthorpe, near Newark, began refereeing aged 14 in 1996, after running the lines at his local grassroots football club from the age of 12.
Graeme Fyvie and Ross Joyce will be running the lines assisting Coote in the match, which is Mark Robins’ first in charge of the club, with Gareth Mellor acting as the fourth official.