Referee: Carl Brook
Assistant Referee: Graeme Fyvie, Lewis Raper
Fourth Official: Richard Aspinall
Carl Brook has been to Sincil Bank once this season, and I felt we got on the right side of a decision. He sent off Brendan Wiredu in the 86th minute of our game against Plymouth, having booked him moments earlier. He went a little card-crazy that day, showing ten yellows, and that is a theme. In 23 games across all competitions, he’s sent off 11 players, although oddly, only four in EFL games, the rest coming in cups.
He officiated as we lost 3-0 at Crawley in October 2024, and was scheduled to take the Orient game in March 2024, only to drop out late on. Before that, he was in the middle of our FA Cup reverse at Chippenham, and he took charge of our 2021/22 trips to Charlton and Wimbledon, which more or less confirmed our safety. The first game he officiated involving us was back in the 2016/17 season when we lost 2-0 to Boreham Wood.
Mr Brook was not promoted at the same time as us, but the following season, he showed a red card nine times in just 22 matches; that’s well above average. He remained in the National League in 2018/19, where he showed eight reds in just 26 matches, which is still one every three games.
This season, he’s 24th for fouls per game in League One, and 39th for fouls per tackle, which seems to err on the side of leniency. However, he’s 15th for yellows per game and 11th for reds per game, suggesting while he lets some things go, when he does call a foul, there is a risk of a card.