Referee and VAR officials confirmed for League Two play-off final

And the identities of the officials who will oversee the VAR system for the final have also been confirmed.

Tom Nield will be the man in the middle at Wembley.

He will be assisted Alex James and Hristo Karaivanov, with the fourth official Simon Mather and Darren Williams reserve assistant referee.

The final will be the first Carlisle game to come under the video assistant referee system, with former Premier League ref Neil Swarbrick presiding over that, assisted by Derek Eaton.

The appointments were confirmed by the EFL today.

West Yorkshire ref Nield last came across Carlisle in April 2022 when he oversaw the 1-0 home defeat to Exeter City and produced the yellow card four times.

Before that it was the 2-1 home defeat to Cambridge United in March 2021, with three yellow cards shown that day.

He also refereed United’s first home game of the 2018/19 season, a 2-2 draw with Northampton Town when five bookings were issued.

Second leg ref Simon Mather, right, is fourth official at Wembley (Image: Ben Holmes)

The last time he witnessed a Carlisle win was the 2-1 win at Cambridge in August 2017 - a day he awarded a penalty to the opposition.

Nield’s latest encounter with Stockport, meanwhile, was much more recent.

He was in the middle for the Hatters’ play-off semi-final first leg 1-0 defeat at Salford City, booking one player that day.

He also refereed Stockport’s 2-2 FA Cup draw at Bolton Wanderers last season.

Nield was appointed a National List referee in 2018 and this season has been in charge of 34 games.

They have been in Leagues One and Two, the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Papa John’s Trophy – while he also had a recent spell refereeing in the Japanese J2 League.

Fourth official Mather, meanwhile, encounters United again having refereed Saturday’s second leg against Bradford.