Coventry City vs Sunderland: Who is the referee?

Here is everything that you need to know about the referee for this weekend's Championship match between Coventry City and Sunderland.

Dean Whitestone will be the referee for when Sunderland travel to Coventry on Saturday. 

Whitestone will be joined by Daniel Leach and Matthew Smith, with Andy Woolmer as the fourth official. 

Dean Whitestone is an experienced EFL referee, who made his debut in the Football League back in 2005.

Since then, he has been the man in the middle for 595 games across all divisions in the Football League and all domestic competitions, including the FA Cup, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy.

The Northampton-born referee was the fourth official for the EFL Trophy final between Coventry City and Oxford United in 2017.

Whitestone in the warm up for a Championship match last season. 

He has also taken charge of two International Friendlies at youth level involving England's U17 and U19 sides. 

Whitestone's record in Sunderland games

This Saturday will be Whitestone's first game overseeing a Sunderland game this season.

But one of the highlights of his career was the record breaking EFL Trophy final between Portsmouth and The Black Cats in 2019, where over 85,000 supporters were in attendance. 

Whitestone dished out five yellow cards that day in an action packed final at Wembley Stadium. 

Sunderland took a first half lead, courtesy of an Aiden McGeady goal, but were later drawn level, after Nathan Thompson scored in the 82nd minute for Portsmouth.

Sunderland celebrating McGeady's first half strike. 

Both teams then went on into extra time, with Pompey later going 2-1 up in the 114th minute. 

However, an Aiden McGeady equaliser in the 119th minute of extra time sent The Black Cats into a nerve wrecking penalty shootout.

Lee Cattermole saw his penalty saved by Portsmouth Goalkeeper, Craig MacGillivray, and that was the moment it slipped away from Sunderland. 

Pompey's Oli Hawkins went on to score the decisive penalty to win the game for Portsmouth, and cause some Sunderland Wembley heartache. Well, it was more annoyance than heartbreak in all honesty.  

Sunderland players watching in agony as Pompey win the shootout. 

Whitestone's overall record this season

Games: 24
Yellow cards: 69
Red cards: 1
Penalties awarded: 4
Cards per game: 2.92

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