Andy the Ref

THE referee for this Saturday's game at Chesterfield is Andy Haines.

Andy has officiated Argyle on five previous occasions. Curiously, the two home games he has taken charge of have seen heavy defeats for Argyle; 1-3 against Sheffield Wednesday in August 2009, 0-3 against Peterborough in August 2010. However, all three Argyle away games - at Preston, Coventry and Macclesfield -  that he has been in the middle for have seen us draw 1-1.

This season, Mr Haines has sent off seven players in the 15 games he has refereed. He sent off two Blackpool players as they lost 5-1 at Derby last week, and last month he dismissed two players - one from each side - as Oldham beat Notts County, a game that coincidentally also ended up 5-1 to the home side.

Mr Haines has awarded nine penalties in his 14 games this season. Two came in the above Derby v Blackpool match, whereas he gave three when Fleetwood defeated Newport 4-1.

He gave another two when Rochdale drew 2-2 with Saturday's opponents Chesterfield - both to Rochdale. One was scored by Andrew Tutte, after former Pilgrim George Donnelly had previously missed from twelve yards.

In the eleven games that Andy has refereed Chesterfield, they have won only one. The other ten games have yielded four draws and six defeats for the Spireites.