Sunderland vs Hull City: Who is the referee?
Keith Stroud has been appointed as referee by the EFL for Sunderland's clash against Hull City this Friday.
Stroud will be joined by Sam Lewis and Matthew Smith as his assistants, with Ross Joyce taking up the duty of fourth official.
Stroud is a well-experienced referee, with this being his 19th season.
After progressing through the Wessex Leagues, Stroud became a National List assistant referee in 2000, and then a Select group assistant referee in 2002.
He took charge of his first match as a referee in 2004, and since then he has gone on to make 17 appearances in the Premier League, 577 across the Football League, and 67 in all domestic competitions.
He has also taken charge of 7 games within the EFL play offs.
Stroud brings with him a vast amount of experience in the English game to the Stadium of Light this Friday.
Stroud's record for Sunderland
Stroud has been the man in the middle for 11 games involving Sunderland throughout his career.
The Black Cats have emerged victorious 5 times, drawn twice and lost 4 of those 11 matches.
Stroud may be a familiar face to some Sunderland fans, the Hampshire-born official has made three appearances in Sunderland matches this season.
Sunderland have won 2 of those games, but the most recent match officiated by Stroud ended in a 3-1 loss against Swansea.
In that match, Stroud dished out a straight red card to Sunderland man Luke O'Nien in the 18th minute for an mistimed tackle.
The early red card left Sunderland with 10 men for the majority of the game, facing an uphill battle, The Black Cats went on to lose the match 3-1.
O'Nien took to Twitter to apologise after the game where he posted: "I usually enjoy a hard tackle but today I slightly mistimed it and it cost the boys. I feel disappointed in myself and I'm gutted for the boys as we set up well for 30 mins and believe our tactics were spot on to that point.
"I was proud of the lads to see them keep fighting while down to ten men. I will learn from this and when I come back from suspension I'll make sure that I'm a smarter and better player and will continue to give my all for the team and the fans."
Stroud's record this season
Games: 32
Yellow cards: 160
Red cards: 4
Penalties awarded: 5
Cards per game: 5.13
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