Eddie Ilderton takes charge of his first QPR match since 2002 on Tuesday night as the R's travel to Barnsley.

Barnsley v Queens Park Rangers
Referee – Eddie Ilderton (Tyne and Wear)
Assistants – Murphy (Nottingham) and Newbold (Leicester)
Fourth Official – Bramley (Yorkshire)

Keith Stroud has bee in the headlines a couple of times in the past ten days – and not for the right reasons. First Stoke City manager Tony Pulis complained about the official following their game at Ipswich last month. Ipswich give a page in their matchday programme over to the day’s referee for an interview about his time in football and the match and Stroud said in his that he was looking forward to a match between two sides who play the games in different ways.

He didn’t go so far as to say Stoke City are a team of very large gentlemen whose success is based entirely on getting the ball in the air and up to the penalty area as quickly and as often as possible while Ipswich try and pass it every now and again but you know what he meant. When Stoke were denied a late penalty at Portman Road Pulis saw an opportunity and moaned to the authorities about the interview and the referee pre-judging the match. Personally I think that’s a load of nonsense from a manager sore at his team dropping points and looking for somebody to blame.

You’d have to be a blind man not to notice that Ipswich and Stoke play the game in different ways and I’m not sure why there’s a problem with the match referee saying that. Stroud didn’t express an opinion either way on which style of play he preferred – who knows, he may enjoy running around with his neck craned towards the sky looking for Stoke’s latest aimless punt down the field or long throw? Anyway apparently Football League referees' chief David Allison has apparently written back to Stoke agreeing with Pulis and the league are now reviewing whether or not referees should be allowed to do pre-match interviews.

It would be a shame if they were told not to in my opinion. The interview in the Ipswich programme is something a bit different and quite an enjoyable read generally – I picked up a copy from their FA Cup game with Portsmouth during which Mark Halsey was recalling his trip to Wembley as a QPR fan for the FA Cup final with Tottenham and it was an excellent piece. As long as they’re not coming out and showing a preference for one side or the other then what’s the problem?

No pre-match interview for Stroud this week, but no shortage of controversy either. I think Ian Holloway is still at the Ricoh Arena now moaning to anybody that will listen about the penalty decision that gave Coventry their first goal. Even Chris Coleman admitted he had no idea why it had been given and to be honest, despite winding the replay back several times, I still can’t see a reason for it myself. Still, Leicester lost again, chortle.

Our referee on Tuesday night at Barnsley is Eddie Ilderton. Our game at Wigan was one of the first league mtches of his career back in 2002 but we haven’t seen him since so it will be interesting to see what we get – his card averages are certainly encouraging.

So far this season Ilderton has booked 52 (2.26 a game) and sent three off in 23 matches. This will be his eighth Championship match of the season. His two biggest hauls this season have both come in Championship matches – seven and one in the Coventry v Burnley match in January, five and one in Watford’s win at Scunthorpe back in the autumn. Last season he booked 110 (3.23 a game) and sent off nine in 34 matches so his average has got considerably lower this campaign.

This is his first QPR appointment this season but he has had a Barnsley game already, they beat Bristol City 3-0 at Oakwell in October with all the goals coming in the final 20 minutes of the match. Ilderton booked two players from each side. Last season he was in charge as the Tykes beat Ipswich 1-0 in Yorkshire – again two players from each team were shown yellow cards, the goal came in stoppage time at the end of the match. QPR fans travelling north will be hoping for no repeat of those impressive result on Tuesday night.

The only QPR match of his career to date came in October 2002 when we drew 1-1 at Wigan in League One. Rangers were thoroughly good value for their point that night and would have had all three had Ilderton not bottled a blatant penalty decision in the opening two minutes when Andy Thomson was chopped down in the Wigan penalty area. A combination of the decision coming so early in the game, and at the home end of the ground, probably influenced Ilderton unduly on that occasion because the replays showed it was a clear and obvious penalty. Thomson did eventually score, right on the stroke of half time to equalise – the home fans abused the referee for the amount of stoppage time he added on prior to that goal.

Very few games elsewhere this Tuesday night with I officially being an FA Cup Replay date – we are one of just three re-arranged matches at our level. Jarnail Singh has in form Dagenham against high flying Hereford in League Two, Nigel Miller has Morecambe v Grimsby in the paint pot trophy.

Referee Leagues

Photo: Action Images

Blackpool Polls