Hibs v Kilmarnock: Referee revealed for 2020/21 season opener

Referees are being appointed further in advance to allow for Covid-19 testing

A number of Hibs players engage the referee in discussion during a Scottish Premiership match last season

The referee for Hibs' opening match of the 2020/21 Scottish Premiership season against Kilmarnock at Easter Road has been confirmed.

Ordinarily, appointments are confirmed on the Tuesday before a Saturday fixture.

However, the Evening News understands that match officials are now being allocated games well in advance to allow for coronavirus testing to take place prior to matches being played.

The man tasked with overseeing the Capital club’s return to action is John Beaton.

The 38-year-old whistler took charge of Hibs’ 3-1 defeat to Aberdeen at Pittodrie in the final match of the curtailed 2019/20 season, booking Melker Hallberg and Paul McGinn and sending off Steven Whittaker for two yellow cards.

Beaton has refereed 30 matches involving Hibs in his career as an official including six last season with Hibs winning one, drawing one, and losing four.

This will be the third time he takes charge of a match between Hibs and Kilmarnock. He oversaw Hibs’ 4-2 Scottish Cup win at Rugby Park in March 2013, and was tasked with keeping order in a September 2018 encounter with Hibs running out 3-2 winners at Easter Road.

In his career to date he has taken charge of 377 matches across a variety of competitions including the Scottish Premiership, World Cup qualifiers, UEFA Nations League and Switzerland’s third tier.

Just over 38 per cent of those matches have been Scottish top-flight meetings, during which he has shown more than 500 yellow cards, 26 red cards, and awarded 40 penalties.

Beaton will be assisted by Frank Connor and David Doig, with Andrew Dallas on fourth-official duty.