Referee for this Saturday’s Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash with Kilmarnock will be the experienced Crawford Allan.
It will be Crawford’s fifth ‘Well game of the current season; his first was the instantly forgettable 3-0 home defeat at the hands of St Johnstone in September. T
The second was the 3-2 win in Inverness a month later, goals coming from Shaun Hutchinson, Keith Lasley and Tom Hateley handing McCall’s men all three points. Next was the disappointing 2-0 defeat at Tynecastle against an on-form Hearts on Christmas Eve and the most recent was the 1-0 defeat at Celtic Park at the tail end of February.
He’ll no doubt be a familiar face to Fir Park fans, having handled three games last season too.
He was the man in the middle for the 4-0 win over St Johnstone last November thanks to a hat-trick from Nick Blackman and a single John Sutton strike.
Three months later he was back at Fir Park when a John Sutton penalty was enough to give ‘Well a 1-0 win over local rivals Hamilton Accies. He also handled the 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock in May when Steve Jones’ opener was cancelled out by Willy Aubameyang.
The season previous, he was the man in the middle for the 3-1 success early in Jim Gannon’s reign when John Sutton, Ross Forbes and Shaun Hutchinson gave the ‘Well all three points over Kilmarnock.
A month later he officiated the 1-1 draw with Aberdeen when Gary McDonald, who would later be ordered off, cancelled out a Lukas Jutkiewicz opener.
Tragically, Allan took charge of the ‘Well game on the 29th December 2007, forever etched in history as the date when Phil O’Donnell tragically passed away in the 5-3 victory over Dundee United.
Phil’s death had a profound effect on the whistler, a Grade 1 official for eleven seasons, but he won heartfelt praise for the way he handled what was an extremely difficult situation and his sensitive approach is and was appreciated by everyone at Motherwell Football Club.
In another twist of fate, Allan is only one of two referees to have ever taken charge of a Motherwell away game at Fir Park as the Steelmen faced hosts Gretna during the 2007/2008 campaign.
His record in charge of the ‘Well is a fairly decent one, with the Fir Parkers winning six, drawing four and losing three (the aforementioned defeats by St Johnstone, Hearts and Celtic this season) of the twelve games in total. In those games, 35 players have seen yellow, 19 in Claret and Amber, whilst three have been sent for an early bath.
Allan will be ably assisted by David Watt and John Gilmour with Brian Winter on fourth official duties.