EFL make official decision ahead of Derby County vs Portsmouth Championship showdown

The EFL have announced that Oliver Langford will be the referee for Portsmouth’s highly-anticipated trip to Derby County on Friday night at Pride Park. Langford is a highly-experienced referee who made his debut in August 2008 during a League Two match between Rochdale and Barnet.

Over the course of his career, he has taken charge of 253 matches at Championship level, with 11 of those coming this season. In that time, he has handed out 42 yellow cards, giving him an average of 3.82 per game this term, but is so far yet to produce a red card this season.

Langford has overseen two Portsmouth games this season, which include a 3-3 draw on the opening day against Leeds United and a costly 2-0 loss to Cardiff City back in October. He also took charge of Derby County’s controversial 3-2 defeat to Norwich City earlier in the campaign and was heavily criticised for awarding two goals in the Canaries favour which both appeared to be out of play in the build-up.

Mark Stevens and Alex James will act as assistant referees for the contest at Pride Park while Dean Whitestone will be the game’s fourth official. Portsmouth travel up to Derby on a high as they look to extend their impressive four-game unbeaten streak in the Championship. Pompey sit in 21st position, narrowly above the drop zone on goal difference, but have the chance to create a three point cushion between themselves and fellow strugglers Cardiff City.

Portsmouth’s upcoming opponents

Derby County finished second behind Portsmouth to earn automatic promotion back into the Championship for the first time since 2022. Paul Warne’s side made a steady start to life in the second tier by winning three of their opening five league matches, but since then have found wins much harder to come by with just two in their last 16 league matches.

As it stands, Derby are 17th in the Championship table, leaving them just four clear of the drop zone after a concerning run of three defeats from their last four league matches. Warne was heavily criticised after one of those defeats against Leeds United, when he notably referred to his side as a ‘League One team with a sprinkling of sugar.’ However, in their most recent outing Derby came out with a point to prove to earn a commendable 0-0 draw against Championship promotion hopefuls Burnley.