The Men In Black: Forest v Derby

Mr. Anthony Bates from sunny Staffordshire, gets the gig for nPower Championship game at the City Ground this evening, between Nottingham Forest and Derby County.

Previous encounters between these two teams, suggests that there will be blood, with no love lost between the East Midlands rivals. Mr. Bates is a stern referee and his record shows, that whilst he’s more than willing to brandish the yellow cards like confetti, he’s a little more reserved when it comes to dishing out the red.

So far this campaign, Mr. Bates has issued 49 yellow and 3 red cards in his 18 games. He last had the privilege of taking charge of a game involving the Reds’, in the 1-1 draw at home to Leeds earlier this season. We had him twice last season and things didn’t turn out well for us in either. He took charge of the 4-2 defeat at home to Watford and the 1-0 away defeat at Coventry.

He will be ably assisted on the lines by Mr. J. Farris and Mr. M. J. Foley. The 4th official is Mr. M. Heywood.