Carlisle United are set for a reunion with the referee who controlled their Wembley triumph against Stockport County in May.
Tom Nield oversaw the League Two play off final and he will be in the middle on Saturday when United visit Lincoln City.
Carlisle is likely to figure highly in any subsequent book on his career as his first match in the Football League following his promotion ahead of the 2017/18 season, was at Cambridge United at the Abbey Stadium against Carlisle.
As it happened Carlisle also won on that occasion, taking home the spoils after a 2-1 victory.
Overall since then Nield has been in the middle for five matches involving Carlisle United but a much bigger fifteen matches involving Lincoln City.
His first match involving The Imps was during their Conference days in a 3-2 win away at Chester on 10th October 2015, in a match which saw him show five yellow cards.
Nield oversaw a total of 35 matches during the 2022/23 season, showing a 100 yellow cards and three red cards. He was most card-happy in the League One encounter between Shrewsbury Town and Portsmouth (1-1) when he showed seven yellow cards and one red card.
He has already equalled that this season in the League One match between Bolton Wanderers and Fleetwood Town (3-1) when he also showed seven yellow cards and one red card.
So far this season, Nield has refereed three matches, showing twelve yellow cards and one red card.
Away from football Nield is a senior nurse/matron with the Acute & Emergency Service at the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
During the Covid pandemic in 2020 he gave a wide-ranging interview on Sky Sports News, when he spoke about how it was exhausting work which put football into perspective.
In March 2020 he asked the Professional Game Match Officials Limited [PGMOL] to allow him to make a temporary permanent switch to his NHS role, until it was safe to return as a part-time referee.
