The officials have been named for Tuesday night’s massive Championship showdown between Middlesbrough and Leeds United at The Riverside, for which Andrew Kitchen will be match referee.
Durham-born official Kitchen has taken charge of 22 Championship games so far this season yet has refereed more Leeds under-21s games than Whites first-team matches so far during his career.
Following promotion to Select Group 2 level last season, his sole appearance as the man in the middle for a Leeds first team game arrived last March when he took charge of March’s 1-1 draw at Huddersfield Town.
Kitchen gave Huddersfield’s Jonathan Hogg his marching orders in that match after a second booking just before the break.
But the official has only brandished two red cards from his 25 games so far this season – one for Plymouth Argyle’s Ibrahim Cissoko in October’s 5-0 defeat at Championship hosts Cardiff City and another for Exeter City’s Ed Turns in February’s FA Cup clash at home to Nottingham Forest.
Kitchen has refereed five games involving Boro so far in his career, those contests ending in two Boro wins, two defeats and one draw.
Shaun Hudson and Darren Williams have been named as assistant referees for Tuesday night’s contest, for which Ruebyn Ricardo will be fourth official.
