Ref Watch: Robins v Bulls

Paul Gibbs will take charge of this Saturday's vital League One encounter between Cheltenham Town and Hereford United at Whaddon Road.

The West Midlands based referee is an Assistant Headteacher at a Secondary School in Birmingham, and qualified as a referee back in 1993.

He was upgraded to the 'National List' last summer and claims his 'best game' was back in March 2008 when he took charge of the Torquay United v Aldershot Town clash in the Blue Square Premier in front of live television cameras.

The clubs were searching for a place in the Football League, and Gibbs said 'the game was very competitive with plenty at stake for both teams.'

Gibbs has officiated at only four League One matches so far, with his solitary Champrionship match coming on January 27, 2009 when he refereed the match at the Liberty Stadium as Swansea City defeated Preston North End in a 4-1 win.

In his last League One match, Gibbs red-carded the Swindon Town defender Patrick Kanyuka at the Galpharm assisting Huddersfield towards their 2-1 success.

Earlier this season Gibbs booked Karl Broadhurst as the Bulls went down 3-0 at the stadium:mk against the MK Dons.

The Hereford United goalkeeper Jose Veiga does not have fond memories of the referee, as he sent-off the then Tamworth player in a Conference fixture on Boxing Day 2006.

Veiga was red-carded enabling Burton Albion to secure all three points courtesy of a Daryl Clare penalty.

Gibbs was a frequent visitor to Edgar Street during United's Conference years with United having a pretty good record in matches with the West Midlands official in the middle.

Indeed, on 12th August 2003, Hereford thrashed Forest Green Rovers 5-1 at Edgar Street.

On that occasion Steve Guinan scored twice, Rob Purdie bagged a brace, and Danny Carey Bertram provided the final finish. Regular Bulls fans may also recall the former Hereford and Cheltenham favourite Neil Grayson scoring Rovers' consolation goal.

So far this season in 17 games Gibbs has issued 40 yellow cards, plus the dismissal of Swindon's Kanyuka for shirt-pulling in January.

In December, Robert Richardson for the Vital Gillingham website, gave this assessment of referee Gibbs after the Gills beat Chesterfield 2-1.

'Referee Paul Gibbs blew his whistle on no less than 42 occasions, handing out eight yellow cards, six of which were to Chesterfield players.

'Many will be left wondering how the away side managed to play 90 minutes with a full compliment of players, due to a number of occasions where the referee took a very lenient stance on rather aggressive actions.

'Lester could well have been booked within the first ten minutes after lunging in late with studs showing, but as it was the striker's name stayed out of Mr Gibbs' book until the 45th minute, where, to ironic cheers, he was finally carded.'

--

Join Vital Hereford United

It's easy to register for Vital Hereford United, simply click the link and enjoy getting involved (you can even win prizes!)

Message Board

To visit the Vital Hereford United message board, click here.

Get involved

This website is your website and we are looking for people to help run the site. Do you go to most of the games and have an opinion? Why not write a match report? Perhaps you are a budding journalist or even just someone who is very opinionated? Well why not join our team? If this interests you please contact Vital Hereford United.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.