Leeds United will be eyeing up a sixth consecutive Championship win when they travel to Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town on Saturday lunchtime.
The Whites maintained their current hot streak of form last weekend with an emphatic 4-0 hammering of Middlesbrough at Elland Road, registering their biggest victory of the season in the process.
But now that the clash with Jonathan Woodgate's Boro side is now out of the way, attention quickly switches to a highly-anticipated West Yorkshire derby meeting with Huddersfield at the John Smith's Stadium this weekend.
And one of the biggest focus' in the build-up to a derby encounter is that of who will be the man in the middle making all of the key decisions.
The man in question is Gavin Ward, who has been handed the responsibility of keeping both Marcelo Bielsa's and Danny Cowley's players in line.
Ward, who has been an EFL referee for over 10 years, is not an official that is renowned for handing out cards needlessly, having brandished just 32 yellows and one red in the 10 Championship games he has taken charge of this season.
The only red card he has shown was to Millwall's Jed Wallace, when he was dismissed for a late challenge on Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Kieran Lee during the Londoners' 1-0 triumph over the Owls back in August.
And this Saturday's clash in Huddersfield will not be the first time this term that Ward has overseen one of Leeds' matches, as he took charge of the 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers at Elland Road last month.
During that game, though not from a Leeds perspective, Ward was blasted by Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray for his decision to award Leeds a first-half penalty that was duly converted by Patrick Bamford.
In total, Ward has taken charge eight Leeds matches during his career, in which time he has only ever sent off a Whites player once, that being former defender Pontus Jansson for a second bookable offence in last season's 2-1 reverse to Stoke City at the Bet365 Stadium.
This weekend's game will be the first, big, notable derby that Ward has had the responsibility of taking charge of.
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