Rob Lewis started his refereeing career in the Shrewsbury and Shropshire leagues and made his first appearance as a football league referee on 1 October 2005 as Rochdale beat Rushden 2-1.
He took charge of nearly 50 league matches up to the end of the 2007/08 season before an eight month injury lay off cost him his coveted place on the national list.
But he plugged away to get back to the stage and his perseverance paid off when he one was of seven refs from around the country to be added to the Football League panel for the 2010/11 season.
His first game back in the middle was the League Two clash between Wycombe and Morecambe at Adams Park.
He had spent the previous couple of seasons running the line in the Premier League and refereeing top six sides in the Conference most of the time and also did the play-off semi-final between Luton Town and York City.
He also earned his FIFA badge as an assistant referee and frequently flew around Europe for high profile international matches, with one of the highlights running the line at the Bernabeu Stadium for a Champions League match when David Beckham was playing for Real Madrid.
One of the most talked about incidents in recent years was on 4 January 2005 between Manchester United and Tottenham. The match was goalless at Old Trafford after 89 minutes when Spurs midfielder Pedro Mendes spots Roy Carroll well off his line in the dying moments and attempts to beat the United keeper with an ambitious effort from just over the halfway line.
Although Carroll gets back in time, he spills the ball two yards over his line but instinctively turns to scoop it away with his right hand. With referee Mark Clattenburg and his assistant Rob Lewis too far away from the incident to judge, Mendes is denied a winning goal and United escape with a point.
His last match was a 0-0 draw between Cheltenham against Rochdale on 25 January 2013. This will be his first match involving Portsmouth.
Previous seasons:
|
Season: |
Matches: |
Yellow Cards: |
Red Cards: |
|
2012/13 |
19 |
62 |
0 |
|
2011/12 |
26 |
73 |
4 |
|
2010/11 |
25 |
90 |
5 |
|
2007/08 |
10 |
19 |
1 |
|
2006/07 |
28 |
106 |
6 |
|
2005/06 |
18 |
65 |
3 |
Rob Lewis & PNE:
|
Date: |
Match: |
Goalscorer: |
Total Cards: |
PNE Cards: |
|
13/08/2012 |
PNE 2 Huddersfield 0 |
King; Wroe |
3 |
Wroe; Beardsley |
|
28/11/2006 |
PNE 1 Coventry 1 |
Nugent |
3 |
Nil |
His assistants Tony Peart from North Yorkshire and David Richardson from West Yorkshire. The fourth official is Peter Gooch from Lancashire.