Rotherham United welcome Huddersfield Town to the New York Stadium on Saturday when Josh Smith from Peterborough has the whistle.
Passing his basic referees course at the tender age of fourteen in 2007 he first started officiating in the Peterborough and District Youth League rising through the levels until reaching the Football Conference. One of the youngest officials in the country Josh took charge of his first Football League game in August 2019 making the step up after just one season in the National League.
This is the second time Josh has been in the middle for a Millers match this season, the first in December, again at the New York Stadium when Swansea City were in town. He was much involved in the game that afternoon giving Daniel Ayala a yellow card early in the game after the Spanish player took exception to not getting a throw-in when the ball had so obviously come off a Swans players. Not five minutes later Ayala and Charlie Patino went shoulder to shoulder the visitor going down in stages and the referee giving a free-kick before being surrounded by Swansea players and then decided to give Ayala a second yellow and his marching orders. The visitors went one up at the end of the first half with Sam Nombe equalising on sixty-four minutes only for Swansea to get another with fifteen minutes to go giving them the points.
Josh and the Millers have met twice before this the last time being in April 2023 at Ashton Gate where Tommy Conway opened the scoring for Bristol City on fifteen minutes. A second-half Jordan Hugill penalty cancelled their lead out but City won the game in time added on when Andi Weimann stabbed a loose ball home. There were five yellow cards that day, two going to City with Cameron Humphreys, Cohen Bramall and Hugill booked for Rotherham.
The first time he had been in charge of a Millers game was two months earlier at Bloomfield Road when Blackpool and Rotherham played out a goalless draw. That day he showed two yellow cards, both to Tangerine players.
In the twenty-nine games he has been in the middle for this season Josh has shown one hundred and fourteen yellow cards and six red.
Running the line on Saturday we have Matthew Jones and Sam Lewis and the Fourth Official will be Ross Joyce.
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