Josh Smith will be the man in charge when Rovers travel to MK Dons on Saturday.
Smith comes from a family of referees following in the footsteps of both his father (football) and his grandfather (rugby league) and was taking charge of junior league games at the age of 14.
Smith became an EFL assistant referee in 2015 before becoming a referee in 2018. He had a meteoric rise through the ranks with successive promotions from National League to the EFL National List of Referees and – in the summer of 2020 – being added to the Select Group 2 List of Referees meaning he operates mostly in the Championship.
The man from Peterborough impressed so much last season that he was handed the League Two play-off semi final between Colchester United and Exeter City.
Saturday will be the first time Smith has taken charge of a Rovers match in the current campaign, but he oversaw two Rovers games last season – both containing plenty of drama. The first was a 7-1 away win over Southend United in which two Shrimpers players saw red following tackles on Jon Taylor while the second was 2-1 away defeat to Gillingham where another red was shown, this time to Fejiri Okenabirhie.
In 2020/21, Smith has taken charge of 13 matches handed out 38 yellow cards and just two reds.
This weekend, he will be assisted by Adrian Waters and Mark Jones. The fourth official will be Rob Smith.
