Referee for West Brom match confirmed by the Premier League.
The referee for Watford’s first Premier League match of the season at Vicarage Road, against West Bromwich Albion, has been announced.
The man in the middle will be Paul Tierney from Lancashire and this will be his second game of the 2015/16 season.
Tierney usually referees in the Football League and has only officiated one Premier League game previously, which was Swansea’s 3-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion, in August 2014.
It appears that this weekend’s match will be a trial game for Tierney, to see whether he is ready to make the step up from the National Group of referees, to the Select Group, who mainly officiate in the Premier League.
The Lancashire official refereed the Hornets three times last season, the last of which being the Hornets 1-3 away victory over Nottingham Forest in April. That night, he sent off Forest’s Kelvin Wilson for kicking out at Odion Ighalo.
He also took charge of Watford’s 3-0 defeat to Norwich last August, sending off Joel Ekstrand in the second minute, as well as the Hornets’ 0-5 victory over Fulham in front of the Sky cameras, in December.
Tierney refereed 37 matches last season in all competitions, sixteen of those being in the Championship, handing out 134 yellow cards and eight red.
For the full appointment, please see below:
Watford vs West Bromwich Albion
Referee – Paul Tierney.
Linesman – Peter Kirkup and David Bryan
Fourth Official – Mike Dean.