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Ref-Watch: Bolton (A)

Don't get tomorrow's referee, MARK HAYWOOD mixed up with fellow official Mark Heywood. They're just one letter different, but it's an easy mistake to make. I almost started writing about the wrong one...

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At the weekend we had the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final referee, and against Bolton we'll have the fourth official for the Wembley game - Mark Haywood. Do you care? Probably not. It's a fun fact anyway.

But read this bit carefully. Don't confuse the West Yorkshire official with Mark Heywood. They sound the same, but are spelt differently. Heywood, with an e, will be refereeing Tranmere vs Wycombe on Tuesday, whilst Haywood, with an a, will obviously be overseeing Bolton vs Reading.

Glad that's been cleared up.

Focusing on the key figure to this article, Mark H - A -ywood, who refereed our disappointing 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth earlier in the season, has taken charge of 30 games this season. In that time, he has given out 90 yellow cards, three red cards and three penalties.

He's been at the centre of controversy at a Bolton game already this season, in their trip to Birmingham. Haywood sent Neil Lennon to the stands this season, as well as giving the Trotters a penalty (which they missed), and handing a yellow card to good old Matt Mills.

As for his past Royals fixtures, we've had five previous games officiated by Haywood, winning one, drawing two and losing two. In December 2009, he sent off Simon Church against Bristol City as he celebrated a late equaliser (Church, not Haywood).

The Yorkshireman initially decided to become a ref after a work colleague who was already an official challenged him to do so, and it's probably fair to say Haywood has won the challenge. Unless that work colleague was someone like Howard Webb...