Top referee for Peterborough United v Leeds United and why Posh should be encouraged by struggling Salford City

Sam Allison during his Premier League debut in December. Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images.

Allison hit the headlines recently when becoming the first black referee to take charge of a Premier League game for 15 years. He refereed the Sheffield United/Luton Town match over Christmas.

Allison has refereed Posh twice before, a 2-1 League One home defeat at the hands of Barnsley last season, and a 1-0 home loss to Gillingham in April, 2021.

Despite thumping second-placed Ipswich Town 4-0, Leeds United lost ground in the race for automatic promotion from the Championship over the Christmas period.

Joel Piroe playing for Swansea against Posh in October, 2021. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com.

Russell Martin’s Southampton are now third, four points ahead of fourth-placed Leeds.

Leeds have won five and lost six of their 13 away games in the second tier, but Posh can take heart from a shock League Cup defeat for the Whites at League Two strugglers Salford City.

Salford won 9-8 on penalties after a 1-1 draw against a Leeds team that included first-team regulars Crysencio Summerville, Georginio Rutter, Ethan Ampadu and Pascal Struijk.

Summerville is Leeds’ top scorer with 12 goals, three more than summer signing from Swansea Joel Piroe and four more than former Manchester United winger Dan James.

A sell out crowd of just under 13,000 will watch the FA Cup tie.

Leeds sold out their allocation of 4,000 tickets quickly and Posh sold the last of their tickets earlier this week.

The attendance will be lower than the last sell out Posh crowd for an FA Cup tie because of crowd segregation issues.

In February 2021, when Manchester City visited London Road in the fifth round, an attendance of 13,405 was announced.