Neil Swarbrick from Lancashire is the man in the middle of QPR's visit to Watford this Saturday.

Referee >>> Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) six years on the league list, refereed one of QPR’s many games with Sheffield United last season and the away win at Coventry this year.

Assistants >>> Paul Kelly (Kent) and Sian Massey (Coventry), Massey as the female official at the heart of the Keys and Gray sexism row earlier this season. Ran the line for QPR’s draw at Burnley in January.

Fourth Official >>> Oleksandr Saliy (Middlesex).

Previously

Heidar Helguson may have been one man you could have reasonably expected to be on the end of Walker’s service but he injected himself into the game more forcefully two minutes later when he clashed with McPake under an aerial ball, leaving the Coventry man flat out on the turf and the City players surrounding referee Neil Swarbrick imploring him to produce a red card for the use of an elbow. Having seen Jermaine Defoe sent off for something very similar already this Christmas my heart was in my mouth somewhat as the referee reached for his card – fortunately it was only yellow and Helguson was allowed to continue.

Hill was rather less assured in the sixty eighth minute when a low cross from McSheffrey was missed by Platt at the near post and then shuffled back to Paddy Kenny by Hill who appeared to touch the ball in the six yard box but no back pass decision was forthcoming from referee Neil Swarbrick, who really needed some help from his assistant on that side of the field to give the decision.

Coventry: Westwood 5, Keogh 5, McPake 6 (Eastwood 87, -), Cameron 7, Wood 5 (O'Halloran 70, 5), Bell 5 (Wilson 71, 4), Carsley 6, Doyle 6, McSheffrey 7, King 6, Platt 4

Subs Not Used: Ireland, Jutkiewicz, Cranie, Baker

Booked: McSheffrey (foul)

QPR: Kenny 8, Walker 8, Connolly 7, Gorkss 7, Hill 7, Derry 7, Faurlin 7, Mackie 6, Taarabt 7 (Rowlands 84, -), Smith 7 (Clarke 80, 6),Helguson 6 (Orr 89, -)

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Agyemang, Hulse, Tofas

Booked: Helguson (foul), Faurlin (foul)

Goals: Westwood 49 og (assisted Walker), Smith 61 (assisted Taarabt)

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 8 Kept a lid on a potentially very difficult match impressively. Faurlin’s booking I disagreed with, and Kenny was lucky to get away with picking up a clear back pass in the second half, but otherwise I cannot recall a decision that was wrong or worth disagreeing with.

QPR 1 Sheffield United 1, Saturday, December 19, 2009

Stewart picked up the game first yellow card for a crude challenge on Ward, who was certainly fouled on that occasion but hit the deck very easily on several others, but United could not deliver from wide areas with the same quality as a moment before.

Things may have been better had Simpson been playing up front with Agyemang instead of wide on the right. The potential of that partnership shone through with 25 minutes left for play when Agyemang knocked a ball down for Simpson who seemed to be clearly and obviously hacked down in the six yard box by Morgan but no penalty was forthcoming. That typified a poor display from referee Neil Swarbrick for me – any big decisions such as cards or penalty appeals were ignored altogether, and I lost count of the number of times he clearly and obviously guessed at a decision. Twice right underneath my seat in the F Block he had no idea whether it was a corner or a goal kick, both times the decisions went Sheffield United’s way, both times they were complete guesses. That, and his failure to adequately punish Sheff Utd’s obvious time wasting tactics, or add on sufficient time for them at the end, add up to a poor day all round for the official.

That lack of a penalty award could have been exacerbated had Walker not fired over into the Sheff Utd fans in the School End who were by this point having an almighty row with a gang of stewards and police in the upper tier.

Another presentable free kick on the edge of the area was struck into the wall by Watson, Morgan was booked for the challenge on Agyemang this time but as the ball stayed out he will feel the ends justified the means.

Three minutes of time was added on at the end of the match, an astonishingly small amount of time given the time wasting that United had flagrantly engaged in for the entire half, and QPR were almost able to natch a scarcely deserved winner with virtually the last kick of the game. Routledge sent in a beautiful cross from the right and Ben Watson guided a near post header onto the top of the cross bar with Bunn well beaten. The goalkeeper then made a big point of chasing his defenders down the pitch in mock rage at their efforts and this latest cynical attempt to run the clock down was punished with the third yellow card of the game. Sadly as Mr Swarbrick had ludicrously only added three minutes onto the end of the game and as Bunn is unlikely to be booked five times this season and suspended this was barely punishment at all and in fact the keeper still wasted a further half minute retrieving the ball and taking the kick even after the booking. The Sheffield United players, frankly, took the piss out of a weak minded official on Saturday and got exactly what they wanted.

It wasn’t the referee or the time wasting that prevented QPR from winning this game though, it was our own inability to see the blindingly obvious. Sheff Utd are a good, solid team in this division but they are not some unbeatable, dominant force for us to fear. We made life really difficult for ourselves on Saturday – firstly by gifting them an equaliser, secondly by sticking with a bizarre and ineffective system that included at least three players out of position at all times and thirdly by then launching long balls down the field towards Agyemang who couldn’t beat Kilgallon and Morgan in the air if you offered him a million quid and gave him a thousand attempts at it.

QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 5, Stewart 6, Gorkss 7, Williams 7, Routledge 6, Leigertwood 6, Watson 5, Simpson 5 (Vine 68, 3), Taarabt 6, Agyemang 6

Subs Not Used: Taylor, Hall, Pellicori, Faurlin, Balanta, Parker

Booked: Stewart (foul)

Goals: Leigertwood 2 (unassisted)

Sheff Utd: Bunn 6, Stewart 7, Kilgallon 7, Morgan 7, Walker 7, Montgomery 7, Quinn 8, Kallio 6, Harper 6, Cresswell 6, Ward 7

Subs Not Used: Bennett, France, Evans, Reid, Little, Geary, Camara.

Booked: Morgan (foul), Bunn (time wasting)

Goals: Cresswell 8 (assisted Halford)

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 4 Failed to either produce yellow cards or add on sufficient time for the blatant time wasting. Missed an obvious penalty for a challenge on Jay Simpson. Guessed a ridiculous amount of decisions through the game. Largely kept the cards in his pockets and wasn’t overly fussy which is a positive but overall this was a poor performance.

QPR 0 Sheffield United 0, Saturday March 7, 2009

In a scrappy start to the game it was the physios of both teams involved in the action more than anybody else early on. Damion Stewart and Jordi Lopez clashed heads in the centre circle but were forced to try and get back into position as referee Neil Swarbrick showed crass ignorance of the rules and waved play on. As soon as play came to a halt, luckily without a United goal, both players hit the deck again and required lengthy treatment while Swarbrick apologised to their team mates for not stopping the play. All very well holding your hands up and apologising but QPR could easily have fallen behind with only nine players able to participate when it is generally accepted that play must be stopped for head injuries.

For their part United picked up a couple of early knocks as well including one to midfielder Brian Howard who hit the deck theatrically under minimal challenge from Jordi Lopez. After initially laying motionless and apparently in absolute agony on the ground Howard made a miraculous recovery when he realised he had not been awarded a free kick and was even able to remonstrate with the referee about alleged use of an elbow by the QPR man. Swarbrick rightly ignored his pathetic whining and ordered him to the touchline – the irony of a player in a side captained by Chris Morgan, a former team mate of Iain Hume as well, moaning about the use of an elbow certainly was not lost on the supporters around me in F Block.

Every Sheff Utd injury, QPR tackle or incident of any sorts really brought United’s ginger midfielder Stephen Quinn scurrying across to volley abuse at any opposition players or match officials within ear shot. Perhaps had Quinn and Howard spent as much time with the ball at his feet as they did with their mouths open United’s midfield would not have been so dull and lacking invention on the day.

QPR: Cerny 8, Connolly 7, Stewart 6, Gorkss 6, Delaney 5, Lopez 6, Leigertwood 5 (Ephraim 81, -), Miller 5 (Alberti 54, 4), Routledge 6, Di Carmine 5 (Balanta 76, 6), Blackstock 6

Subs Not Used: Mahon, Hall

Booked: Stewart (foul)

Sheff Utd: Kenny 8, Naughton 7, Naysmith 6, Morgan 5, Kilgallon 5, Howard 5 (Ward 59, 6), Quinn 5, Halford 7, Montgomery 6, Henderson 6 (O'Toole 81, -), Webber 6 (Beattie 68, 6)

Subs Not Used: Lupoli, Bromby

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 6 Not too bad but missed a fair bit of physical contact from both teams that should have brought free kicks. Quinn was very lucky not to be booked for backchatting after spending the whole afternoon mouthing off, likewise Howard. Almost cost QPR a goal in the first half by playing on when there were two head injuries. Average performance I would say.

QPR 2 Barnsley 1, Saturday August 9, 2008

The first action of real note was a very bad foul by Bobby Hassell on Gavin Mahon in the first minute. Any later in the game and this would surely have drawn a booking from referee Neil Swarbrick who, although very kind to QPR throughout the match in my opinion, did let Barnsley off with one or two naughty challenges in the first half hour.

Just before the hour mark the game should have been put to bed. More terrific work from Ledesma down the right ended with a beautiful lobbed pass into the area behind the Barnsley defence. Dexter Blackstock brought the ball down well and raced in behind his man only for Darren Moore to come across with a covering tackle that cleaned the QPR man out right in front of the Loft End. It looked like a bit of a swan dive from Blackstock to me at the time but the replays show the referee to be right, Moore was wild, late and reckless and got nowhere near the ball – a stone wall penalty. Surprisingly it was Fitz Hall that stepped up to take the kick – Iain Dowie has since insisted he wasn’t hat trick hunting, he was the designated penalty taker. Even if that was the case, and I’m not sure it was, a tame penalty easily saved by Steele down to his right should surely mean Emmanuel Ledesma will be taking the next one.

Suddenly the R’s started to pass the ball and keep possession, this enabled the defence to push out higher down the field and the team had a much more settled and composed look about it. Parejo was involved in the game sealing moment ten minutes after coming on. Barnsley’s Marciano Van Hoemet carried the ball out of his own half in the 83rd minute but Parejo tripped him as he ran past. For whatever reason Swarbrick didn’t blow for a foul and when the loose ball found its way back to Parejo off Macken Van Hoemet lost his head and lunged in with a disgusting tackle that caught the young Spaniard right in the back of his knee. It was a sickening tackle, probably the worst we’ll see all season, and the red card was quickly shown to the Dutchman who left the field after a lengthy protest. Of course Swarbrick had no choice but to send him off but had he given Barnsley the free kick they deserved in the first place it would never have happened.

QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 6, Hall 7, Gorkss 6, Delaney 6, Ledesma 7 (Alberti 83, -), Mahon 7, Leigertwood 6, Cook 6, Agyemang 5 (Parejo 72, 7), Blackstock 5

Subs Not Used: Camp, Connolly, Balanta

Booked: Cook (foul)

Goals: Hall 29 (assisted Ledesma), 31 (assisted Cook)

Barnsley: Steele 7, Devaney 7, Moore 6, Foster 6, Hassell 6 (Leon 85, -), De Silva 6, Howard 6, Van Homoet 6, Hume 7, Macken 4 (Odejayi 85, -), El Haimour 5 (Rigters 75, 6)

Subs Not Used: Kozluk, Mostto

Sent Off: Van Homoet (83) (serious foul play)

Goals: Hume 5 (assisted Howard)

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 5 - The Barnsley fans and players seemed to be irate with him in the second half and I can understand why, we’d have been screaming blue murder in their position. I didn’t think it was a penalty at the time but replays suggest that was the correct decision, likewise the sending off, but he seemed to be very kind to QPR for most of the game to me and bought a lot of the play acting from Ledesma when he really should have played on. The sending off also wouldn’t have happened had he given Barnsley the free kick they deserved a few seconds before, and that in turn wouldn’t have happened had he given a foul that Mahon deserved ten seconds before all of that. Having said that he booked Cook for a foul no worse than three previous Barnsley ones that had gone unpunished. Not great.

Sheff Wed 2 QPR 1, Saturday March 8, 2008

The teams exchanged bookings around the 75 minute mark as Damion Stewart chopped down McAllister and Tudgay incurred the wrath of the referee for kicking the ball away.

As the game entered three minutes of added on time it descended into a complete farce. Sheffield Wednesday were running the clock down in the corner and won a free kick when Songo’o hit the deck. This seemed to rile a few of the QPR players, it certainly wasn’t the first time in the game that Songo’o had done a dying swan act and just six minutes earlier he’d collapsed to the floor and earned Damien Delaney a booking which was perhaps the source of all the ill-feeling in the closing stages. From the free kick Ephraim went steaming in with a ridiculous challenge on the Frenchman that included a forearm smash into his chin. Once the resulting melee had died down he was sent off. By this stage Martin Rowlands was flying into the crowd of players and Lee Camp had to fish him out, Stewart, Delaney and Connolly were there as well and ultimately the referee made the sensible decision to bring the game to a close. Songo’o was ushered off the pitch by his team mates but several QPR players seemed keen to have another word and the disagreements and scuffles continued as they bundled en masse into the tunnel.

Sheff Wed: Grant 7, Hinds 5, Beevers 7, Wood 7, Spurr 5, Kavanagh 8, Small 6 (O'Brien 90, -), Wallwork 3 (McAllister 40, 6), Songo'o 7, Tudgay 7, Showumni 4 (Burton 40, 8)

Subs Not Used: Burch, Boden

Booked: Tudgay (foul)

Goals: Kavanagh 45 (assisted Songo’o), Burton 52 pen (assisted McAllister)

QPR: Camp 5, Delaney 6, Stewart 6, Mancienne 6, Connolly 6, Rowlands 6, Leigertwood 5 (Mahon 66, 7), Buzsaky 5 (Balanta 75, 6), Blackstock 6, Agyemang 5, Vine 7 (Ephraim 63, 4)

Subs Not Used: Pickens, Rehman

Sent Off: Ephraim (90) (violent conduct)

Booked: Stewart (foul), Delaney (foul)

Goals: Delaney 15 (assisted Vine)

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 7 - Seemed to referee the game very well to me, both the penalty decision and the red card were the correct decisions. Thought he could have handled the stoppage time situation a little better, he allowed it to degenerate into a farce by the corner flag and needed to take better control which could easily have been done by warning Songo’o over his play acting earlier in the game. No excuse for what Ephraim did though and he deserves his three match ban.

QPR 1 Ipswich 1, Saturday October 20, 2007

At the Loft End Vine sent a first time volley wide from the edge of the area after good work and a nice cross from the right by Ephraim. Vine possibly had time to take a touch but had he connected cleanly and sent the ball into the bottom corner we wouldn't have been complaining. Adam Bolder was denied a penalty in the last QPR attack of the game when he claimed he'd been pulled back but from where I was sitting it looked like he fell over his own feet and went down very easily.

QPR Camp 7, Mancienne 6 (Nygaard 55, 7), Stewart 7, Cranie 8, Barker 5, Ainsworth 6 (Moore 67, N/A), Bolder 6, Leigertwood 8, Rowlands 6, Ephraim 6, Vine 7.

Subs Not Used: Cole, Bignot, Jarrett

Booked: Vine (foul)

Goals: Nygaard 73 (assisted Vine)

Ipswich Alexander 7, Wright 7, Wilnis 8, De Vos 7, Harding 6, Walters 5, Garvan 6, Legwinski 8, Miller 7 (Roberts 32, 7), Clarke 7 (Haynes 80, 7) Lee 7 (Counago 85, -)

Subs Not Used: Supple, Bruce.

Goals: Legwinski 53 (assisted Garvan)

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 6 Kept cards in his pocket and allowed the game to flow where possible but seemed to let Ipswich get away with far more than QPR to such an extent that when we did finally get a free kick right at the end of the game the whole ground cheered the decision. Got the penalty decision right I think, Bolder went over very easily.

Leicester 1 QPR 3, Saturday March 17, 2007

Referee Neil Swarbrick was adding to the frustration with a poor first half performance. Furlong and Nygaard were persecuted by the official in the first 45 minutes, constantly being whistled against for even meagre and non-existent offences. When Paul Furlong was hauled to the ground by Kenton and the free kick went Leicester's way you started to wonder what it would take to get a decision out of the referee.

He did book Johansson for a deliberate hand ball which prevented Ainsworth bursting into the penalty area but his first half performance was summed up nicely by a bizarre incident on the half hour mark. An overhit pass from midfield ran through to Lee Camp and he prepared to launch the ball down field. However the linesman was flagging for a foul by Cullip on Horsfield that had taken place forty yards away from him, right under the nose of the referee who initially gave nothing.

Now presumably the referee saw nothing wrong with the incident otherwise he would have given it and yet without consulting with his linesman who'd made the decision for him he showed Cullip a yellow card. So if he didn't see it how can he know, without speaking to his assistant who gave it, that it was a booking? Cullip made this point to both officials during a break in play before half time. To make matters worse an identical incident with Furlong and Kenton at the other end was ignored by the officials.

Rangers could have no complaints about Damion Stewart's booking for a lunge from behind on Iain Hume in the 26th minute though - sometimes you've got no chance of winning the ball and you just have to stay on your feet, Stewart needs to learn that.

Suddenly there was only one team in the match. QPR poured forward almost straight from the kick off and Kisnorbo had to turn Bolder's low cross out for a corner as Furlong threatened to sneak in and double the lead. The respite was brief though. Lee Cook had a quiet afternoon on the left wing but when his devilish cross from the right was only partially cleared inside the six yard box Furlong was bundled over by Maybury as he attempted to control the loose ball and a penalty was duly awarded. After so many nailed on penalties not being awarded in crucial matches this season it was a massive relief to see the referee point straight to the spot as Furlong hit the deck. There didn't seem to be a great deal of enthusiasm among the players for taking the spot kick though and when Marc Nygaard picked the ball up there were a few hearts in mouths up in the corner of the stand but he calmly stepped up and rolled the ball into Henderson's bottom right hand corner as the keeper dived left.

At the other end Gareth Ainsworth and Adam Bolder almost crafted a fourth on the counter attack but Henderson spectacularly dived out to claim Ainsworth's cross. Furlong was then booked for kicking the ball away stupidly after Leicester were awarded a free kick on the touchline.

In stoppage time referee Swarbrick, massively improved in the second half, made a real hash of a penalty decision. A cross from the right was intercepted by Cullip who diverted the ball out for a corner either with the top of his thigh or arm - replays have proved inconclusive but he was yards outside the area when it happened and the linesman was looking right at it so that seemed very harsh. Iain Hume took his frustrations out on the ball with a fierce drive down the middle for a consolation goal.

If you saw a young lady going mental off to the left side of the away end when Hume scored and thought she was perhaps slightly mad or simple, don't worry, that was Charlotte. She backed 3-1 at 33/1 before the match. News followed of the other results, which had all gone our way. The perfect day completed.

Leicester: Henderson 6, Maybury 5, Kenton 6, Kisnorbo 6, Johansson 6,Newton 7, Jarrett 7 (Wesolowski 76, -), Hughes 6 (Tiatto 76, -), Yeates 7,Hume 7, Horsfield 6 (Hammond 62, 6).

Subs Not Used: Logan, Stearman.

Booked: Johansson (handball), Hume (foul).

Goals: Hume 90 pen.

QPR: Camp 8, Mancienne 7, Cullip 7, Stewart 7, Bignot 7,Ainsworth 6 (Smith 88, -), Bolder 8, Idiakez 7 (Lomas 63, 7), Cook 6, Furlong 8 (Ray Jones 84, -), Nygaard 8.

Subs Not Used: Cole, Kanyuka.

Booked: Stewart (foul), Cullip (foul), Furlong (kicking the ball away), Ray Jones (foul).

Goals: Idiakez 47, Nygaard 51 pen, 68.

Ref: N Swarbrick (Lancashire) 6 - Absolutely terrible in the first half, culminating in the farcical Cullip booking, greatly improved in the second apart from the dodgy late penalty decision, good job that wasn't crucial.

Stats

Other Listings

Championship >>> Andy D’Urso has Norwich’s trip to Portsmouth on Monday evening.

League One >>> Trevor Kettle is in charge of Brentford v Southampton, Premiership referee Mark Halsey has the local derby between Exeter and Plymouth – Halsey has been granted a year’s extension to his retirement that was due this summer so will be back next year.

League Two >>> The lowest ranked referee of the season so far on LFW Anthony Bates has Crewe v Stockport, something of a Cheshire derby that one.

Photo: Action Images

Middlesbrough Polls