Know the Ref - Motherwell away

Last updated : 06 February 2009 By Stuart Gillespie
Mr Thomson is apparently a Saints fan, which would maybe explain why he's not been in charge of any of our games this season. According to Soccerbase he's only been in charge of four of our games to date. Two were last season - a 3-0 defeat to Dundee United in which Hugh Murray was correctly sent off and a similar loss to Rangers. The other two were heavy 5-1 defeats at Celtic and Hibs in 2006/07.

Despite what Soccerbase says, I seem to remember Mr Thomson being the referee for the last ever Renfrewshire derby at Love Street in 2005. We knocked Morton out of the League Challenge Cup on penalties and there were a few questionable decisions in our favour that night!

So far, Mr Thomson has done just one Motherwell game this season, a 4-2 defeat to Celtic without the obligatory dodgy penalty. Last season he did five. One was a draw with Rangers (dodgy penalty awarded to the opposition when trailing), there was a win and a defeat to Hearts and a draw with Falkirk. There was also a win over Aberdeen, which I seem to remember being controversial as the Dons feel they had scored but the officials decided the ball hadn't crossed the line.

In 2006/07 he refereed two Motherwell wins, one a big victory over Falkirk in which Anthony Stokes was sent off. There were two games in 2005/06 as well, both 2-1 defeats at the hands of Hearts and Celtic.

There were only two Steelmen games for Mr Thomson in 2004/05 as well, a defeat to Kilmarnock and a narrow win over Livingston. There were a number of games in the couple of seasons before that, but nothing noteworthy happened.

Interestingly, Mr Thomson has only shown one red card so far this season. I wonder if that will still be the case after tomorrow?