Port Vale will look to make it five wins on the spin, when we travel to The EnviroVent Stadium to take on Harrogate Town on Easter Monday, in a game which represents a big milestone for the English game. The match officials have been confirmed and can be found below:
Rebecca Welch will take charge of the game, making her the first female official to be selected to referee a men’s match in the English Football League.
Welch has previously refereed big games such as the Women’s FA Cup final over her 11 year refereeing career, but she states that her appointment for Easter Monday’s clash is the “biggest achievement” of her career so far.
Amy Fearn had previously come on to referee a match because of an injury to the original referee in the EFL back in 2010, but Welch is the first female referee to be appointed to take charge of a full match.
Welch’s stats for the season so far are as follows:
National League: 6
Premier League 2: 4
The last game Welch took charge of was a National League clash between King’s Lynn and Eastleigh on 27th March. In the 10 games she has officiated this season, she has issued 41 yellow cards and one red card.
Her assistants will be Geoffrey Liddle and Barry Gordon, with Sebastian Stockbridge taking on the role as fourth official.