Gary in Charge

Sutton will officiate his fourth game of the season, and his first in this division, after two games in both Sky Bet League 1 and the Capital One Cup, in which he has handed out 14 yellow cards, but no reds. Since 2013, Gary has cautioned players 217 times in 79 games, only getting out the red card 14 times. 

It is the ref’s record in games involving the Greens, though, which draws up some surprising statistics. Gary has awarded three penalties in two of the last four matches that he has shared a football pitch with Argyle. 

Last season, Gary was in the middle for Argyle’s FA Cup second round tie against Sheffield United, which the Greens lost 3-0. Sutton awarded a trio of penalties in the space of 14 second-half minutes; the first of which was missed by Reuben Reid, before Jose Baxter netted twice from the spot for the Blades. 

Prior to that, Sutton had a pair of less eventful outings officiating Argyle: a 1-1 draw with Hartlepool United in the Pilgrims’ final home game of the 2013-14 season, in which Sutton awarded no penalties or cards, and a 0-1 victory for Argyle away to Mansfield Town, with Neal Trotman scoring the injury-time winner. 

In October of 2012, though, Sutton gave a pair of spot-kicks in Argyle’s favour as they eased past Rochdale 3-1 at Home Park. Guy Madjo scored both of them, whilst Bobby Grant missed the third penalty for the visitors. 

Six months previous, Gary was in charge of a Greens game for the first time; a pretty important game, too, as Argyle secured their Football League status with a 1-1 draw with Oxford United – Robbie Williams netting for the hosts after only two minutes.