Experienced Stroud takes Derby trip - referee
Monday, 2nd Nov 2015 19:34 by Clive Whittingham

Keith Stroud, a reasonably lucky referee for QPR, is in charge on Tuesday night against Derby at Pride Park.

Referee >>> Keith Stroud (Hampshire), refereed a 2-0 loss at Nottingham Forest two seasons ago, his first QPR defeat in 11 appointments.

Assistants >>> Alan Clayton (Cheshire) and Philip Dermott (Lancashire)

Fourth Official >>> Darren England (South Yorkshire)

Previously

Forest 2 QPR 0, Thursday December 26, 2013, Championship

If you were looking for microcosms of this QPR performance, how about Henry panicking under more pressure from Lansbury and falling on the ball hoping for a free kick? Referee Keith Stroud, who QPR had never lost with in 11 previous appointments, rightly penalised the former Wolves midfielder for handball. Or, moments later, Richard Dunne’s all-too casual square ball on the edge of his own area that Abdoun, stunned by the laziness of his opponent perhaps, handled as he attempted to spring through on goal.

A long ball from back to front towards Greg Halford ten minutes from time missed the makeshift striker altogether as he attempted to flick it on and ran through to Andy Reid in behind the QPR defence. The linesman raised his flag immediately but referee Stroud was happy to hesitate a moment — admittedly under heavy duress from Billy Davies on the touchline - and allow Reid to roll the ball past Green and into the net. QPR had stopped — Green barely made an attempt to deal with Reid and Assou-Ekotto and Dunne were actually walking the other way — but Halford had missed the ball altogether meaning that Reid, who was inside his own half when it was originally knocked long, was actually onside and Stroud was right to overrule his assistant, however he reached the decision.

The old adage about playing to the whistle sprang to mind. The lazy reaction of the QPR players to the incident, followed by a good two minutes of bitching and moaning at the officials, typified their overall attitude to the game and performance on the night. The goal summed Forest up as well: bright, alive, positive, enthusiastic and opportunistic. Just rewards for Reid and his team.

Forest: Darlow 6; Jara 6, Lascelles 6, Hobbs 7, Lichaj 6; Vaughan 6 (Chalobah 67, 6), Lansbury 8; Mackie 7 (Derbyshire 86, -), Reid 7, Abdoun 8 (Paterson 82, -); Halford 6

Subs not used: Harding, Majewski, de Vries, Osborn

Goals: Halford 29 (assisted Abdoun), Reid 80 (assisted Abdoun)

Bookings: Darlow 84 (time wasting)

QPR: Green 6; Simpson 6, Dunne 5, Hill 6, Assou-Ekotto 5; Carroll 6, Henry 3 (Hoilett 45, 5); Phillips 5 (Benayoun 76, 5), Jenas 4, Kranjcar 6; Zamora 2 (Johnson 45, 6)

Subs not used: Traore, Wright-Phillips, Onuoha, Murphy

Bookings: Assou-Ekotto 48 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 8 Much was made of the second goal, and the wide angle replays suggest that Stroud wasn’t nearly as certain as he made out and seemed to play on initially under heavy protest from the Forest bench, but ultimately the decision — like almost every other one he made on the evening — was correct and QPR had only themselves to blame.

QPR 3 Sheffield United 0, Monday April 4, 2011, Championship

Doyle is best remembered by QPR fans for his shamelessly violent man marking job on Lee Cook on this ground back at the height of the left winger's career. Presumably both he and Montgomery had been sent out in this game with similar instructions because within the first five minutes Doyle had a wild hack at Taarabt as he skipped past him, the referee Keith Stroud let that one slide, then moments later after some neat skill by the Moroccan on the edge of the area Montgomery kicked him again. This time a free kick was awarded which Taarabt smacked straight into the wall. When Montgomery then hauled back Tommy Smith in brazen fashion he became the first name to go into the referee's notebook and he can have no complaints about it whatsoever. That free kick was flicked on at the near post but escaped Fitz Hall's attentions at the far but the first corner of the game posed rather less danger, and actually resulted in a Sheff Utd counter attack which ended when Henderson volleyed ambitiously from distance into the Loft.

Undeterred Rangers came again - Wayne Routledge produced a sumptuous piece of control to bring a Paddy Kenny kick out of the air and then set about building an eye catching move that ended with Taarabt teeing up Faurlin for a shot over the bar, but also included a half hearted penalty appeal when the newly crowned Championship Player of the Year hit the deck in the area.

Sheff Utd's best spell of the game came in the final five minutes of the first half. First Quinn threatened to burst in behind the QPR rearguard after Henderson had won the initial header and Bogdanovic had flicked the ball in behind Hall. Eventually the carrot topped midfielder fired into the side netting, and he protested angrily that Hall had leant on him illegally to prevent him scoring but referee Stroud, with two 3-0 QPR wins on his record already this season, showed no interest. The referee did however book Clint Hill on the stroke of the break as he cynically chopped down Evans wide on the right after being done for pace. The resulting free kick bobbled around in the area for a moment before being whacked away to safety, and the half time whistle followed a short time later.

QPR: Kenny 7, Orr 8, Hall 8, Gorkss 7, Hill 7, Faurlin 9, Derry 8 (Buzsaky 86, -), Smith 9 (Miller 81, -), Taarabt 7 (Agyemang 71, 6), Routledge 9, Helguson 8

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Ephraim, Chimbonda, Shittu

Booked: Hill (foul)

Goals: Routledge 29 (assisted Helguson), Faurlin 52 (assisted Taarabt), Routledge 66 (assisted Helguson)

Sheff Utd: Simonsen 8, Nosworthy 2 (Riise 59, 5), Collins 3, Lowton 4, Mattock 4, Montgomery 4, Doyle 4, Quinn 7, Bogdanovic 6 (Yeates 64, 5), Henderson 6, Evans 5 (Bent 79, 5)

Subs Not Used: Aksalu, Cresswell, Kozluk, McAllister

Booked: Montgomery (foul), Yeates (foul)

Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 8 Three QPR games this season, three 3-0 wins for the Super Hoops. He can come again. To be fair there can be no accusations of bias here, Sheff Utd put up such meek resistance he had little to referee. Both teams had weak penalty appeals turned down in the second half, and right at the end of the game a shot deflected wide from Henderson and was given as a goal kick but other than that it was a sound night of refereeing with three cards awarded, all correctly.

Middlesbrough 0 QPR 3, Saturday February 26, 2011

The R’s forced a couple of corners around the ten minute mark — the first was cleared back to Taarabt at the near post, the return ball likewise and then Wayne Routledge tried his luck from the other side but again couldn’t find his way past the near post. As Middlesbrough brought the ball away Alejandro Faurlin upended Joe Bennett, appearing to slip as he made the tackle, but the accidental nature of the collision didn’t stop referee Keith Stroud from producing the first yellow card of the game. Bennett would go on to be the only Middlesbrough player to put in a reasonable performance for his team while Stroud continued to be inconsistent with his bookings.

Middlesbrough’s response to falling behind was a needlessly violent one. From the kick off QPR attacked again down the left through Taarabt but this time he was crudely chopped to the ground by Taylor with a tackle that got nowhere near the ball and cut the Moroccan down just below the knee. I’ve seen players sent off for less, Majewski for Forest a fortnight ago for example, but not only did Taylor escape without a card Rangers were only awarded a throw in by referee Keith Stroud. The official further infuriated Rangers once the ball was back in play with first Taarabt and then Routledge hitting the deck under what appeared to be fouls only to be told to get to their feet. And then to rub salt into gaping wounds Fitz Hall received the game’s second yellow card on the stroke of half time for upending Lita. A ludicrous five minutes of officiating, but a satisfying scoreline as the half time whistle sounded.

The refereeing didn’t improve a lot after half time with a blatant handball on the edge of the Boro penalty box missed by all three officials but it didn’t put QPR off their stride and a nice move between Taarabt, Routledge and Faurlin created space for Buzsaky to try his luck from the edge of the area but he couldn’t keep the shot down. I was quite critical of Buzsaky earlier in the season when he had to fill in for Faurlin in a deep lying midfield position that really didn’t play to his strengths — he was used as one of the more advanced attacking three in this game and it obviously suited him a lot better. Nobody at the top of the Championship has a player as good as Buzsaky to add to their team at this stage of the season and he looks trim and ready for the run in which is fantastic news.

Two became three five minutes later and although the overworked Middlesbrough defence could point to mental and physical fatigue, Merouane Zemmama had no such excuse for his recklessness as he chopped Taarabt down in the penalty area within seven minutes of coming off the bench to replace the ineffective Marvin Emnes.

The penalties this season have been shared between Taarabt and Helguson with some complex unwritten laws on who takes what and why yet to be figured out by those of us that just watch the team. It seemed likely, hunting a hat trick, that Helguson would be the man to take this and indeed he seemed to think so too — arguing with Taarabt over the ball as the Moroccan collected it and walked to the spot himself. Shaun Derry added his opinion that it might be nice for Helguson to take it but Taarabt was certain he fancied it, possibly aware that he hasn’t scored a goal away from home since October and has been in a bit of a trough of form just lately.

Taarabt calmly beat Steele from the spot, sending the keeper the wrong way, and it was good to see that the first man on the scene to congratulate him was Heidar Helguson. Game over.

Robson’s first real involvement saw him fall foul of one of football’s most ridiculous rules. A foul by Helguson on McMahon presented Boro with a free kick just under 30 yards from goal. Keith Stroud set about moving the wall back but while he was doing so Robson attempted a quick shot that flew straight at Paddy Kenny — as the referee hadn’t blown a whistle to signal the start of play this then resulted in a yellow card for Robson. Why is this a booking? What an absolutely bloody stupid rule that is. If you think he’s doing it to waste time then book him for time wasting, otherwise just make him retake the free kick. It is, after all, meant to be an advantage to the attacking team as a reward for being fouled by their opponents, why book them for trying to maximise their own advantage? We’ve fallen foul of that rule before and it’s a completely ridiculous one.

FIFA are holding a board meeting at Celtic Manor on March 5 to discuss what they see as the most pressing issues surrounding the laws of the game — that two of the agenda items are “the potential dangers caused by the wearing of snoods” and a discussion on whether goal posts should be universally round or square tells you a lot about how such nonsenses are allowed to not only permeate our game, but remain for a long period of time. Next week, a similar rant on the yellow card for over celebrating rule.

QPR could easily have been four goals up 13 minutes from time as Faurlin laid a ball through for Taarabt but Steele rushed from his goal line and parried the ball at his opponent’s feet to deny him. Then from a free kick Fitz Hall went over in the area appealing for another penalty — appeals that were waved away by Stroud who then had to separate Taarabt and Bennett who had got involved in some sort of disagreement off the ball.

Middlesbrough: Steele 6, McMahon 6, Hines 5, Davies 5 (Haas 82, -), Bennett 7, Emnes 5 (Zemmama 59, 5), Arca 6 (Robson 59, 6), Bailey 5, Taylor 5, McDonald 5, Lita 5

Subs Not Used: Ripley, Boyd, Grounds, Smallwood

Booked: Robson (taking free kick too quickly)

QPR: Kenny 7, Orr 7 (Connolly 78, 6), Hall 7, Shittu 7, Hill 7, Derry 7, Faurlin 8, Routlede 8, Taarabt 8, Buzsaky 7 (Ephraim 69, 6), Helguson 8 (Hulse 84, -)

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Gorkss, Moen, Miller

Booked: Faurlin (foul) Hall (foul)

Goals: Helguson 41 (assisted Taarabt), 61 (assisted Routledge), Taarabt 68 (penalty won Taarabt)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 6 It’s now nine matches without defeat with this referee for QPR and for the second time this season he officiated a 3-0 away win for the Super Hoops that included a penalty, but there was certainly no hint of favouritism around this performance. The penalty QPR were awarded was blatant while Faurlin can count himself unlucky to be booked for a first half foul when he appeared to slip. Similarly Taylor can count himself fortunate to have stayed on the pitch for his wild hack at Taarabt after the first goal — a challenge that didn’t even bring Rangers a free kick. While it’s the rule that’s at fault rather than the referee the booking of Robson for taking his own free kick too quickly at 3-0 down was a total joke. That apart, he was reasonable.

Ipswich 0 QPR 3, Tuesday September 14, 2010

Ipswich needed some assistance from referee Keith Stroud, an official who had never refereed a QPR defeat in seven attempts prior to this game, to mount their first attack. A move down the Town left seemed to have been snuffed out fairly by Kyle Walker but the official pulled the play back for a meagre challenge by Faurlin earlier in the play. Leadbitter took the free kick, that was swung wickedly in towards the QPR goal and headed straight up in the air by Connolly at the near post. A potentially dangerous situation was swiftly neutralised by Paddy Kenny emerging from his goal line and claiming confidently. No sign of the nerves that seemed to be affecting the Irish keeper in the first couple of games this season on this occasion.

Ipswich were then able to pepper the QPR box again as Buzsaky fouled Norris and Leadbitter pumped in a free kick to the back post. Wickham went up with Kenny, the ball came loose in the area, and Stroud whistled for a free kick. It was one of those that probably should have been waved on by the referee, but the goalkeepers always seem to get the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway Ipswich pressure survived, tremendous football and swift attacking resumed, QPR put the game to bed with just over 20 minutes remaining. Paddy Kenny knocked a long ball up towards the edge of the Ipswich penalty area where, once again, Heidar Helguson won his header. The ball fell to Jamie Mackie in the area with his back to goal and as he touched it back to Akos Buzsaky on the edge of the area Ipswich defender Tommy Smith rashly lunged out a leg to fell the QPR man. It was a blatant penalty, but had referee Stroud waited all of three seconds before awarding it he would have seen Buzsaky fire a goal of the season contender high into the top corner.

It was all a bit unfortunate for the referee really because normally you’d be safe to assume that a team would rather have a penalty than possession of the ball 25 yards away from the goal — but then most sides don’t have Akos Buzsaky. The angle he was looking at the incident from also meant he may well not have seen the Hungarian homing into view at all. It’s easy to make excuses and forgive the official on this occasion because, as he has done four times already this season, Heidar Helguson wandered up to the ball and casually toed the ball into the corner from the penalty spot although, again, I felt Fulop could and should have done better.

QPR have been awarded five penalties in six matches this season — reviewing them all it’s a combination of high work rate from the strikers hustling errors from their opponents, and a touch of gamesmanship as well. Helguson, Mackie and Taarabt are all very good at hitting the deck in a convincing manner — that’s slightly different to diving, because they are being touched and fouled, and as we saw at home to Derby last season when German was blatantly hauled back but stood up and got nothing you have to draw attention to these things or you’ll get nothing.

QPR: Kenny 7, Walker 8, Gorkss 8, Connolly 8, Hill 7, Derry 8, Faurlin 6 (Buzsaky 36, 7), Ephraim 7, Taarabt 7 (Leigertwood 60, 7), Mackie 9 (Smith 80, 6), Helguson 8

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Agyemang, German, Parker

Goals: Mackie 31 (assisted Helguson), 42 (assisted Taarabt), Helguson 68 (penalty, won by Mackie)

Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 7 Couple of strange free kick awards, generously let Priskin off without a card when his foul was cynical and nasty, should have played on and allowed Buzsaky’s goal rather than giving the penalty. But in fairness those were the only real errors that stuck out across 90 minutes and he wasn’t nearly as fussy and card happy as he has been in the past. Controlled the game well for the most part.

QPR 1 Coventry 1, Saturday January 10, 2009

With games off up and down the country, including Fulham’s match just down the road, there was some doubt about the status of this fixture prior to kick off but referee Keith Stroud passed the pitch fit to play on at 2pm after a brief inspection.

Routledge looked bright and pacy but often mis-controlled or overran his chances. In fact the out of position midfielder Gunnarsson actually dealt with Routledge a lot better than the recognised right back Wright. Whenever the former Sunderland man had to come across and cover against Routledge he looked really uncomfortable. Stroud let him off with his first cynical trip on the winger as he raced to the byline, but produced a yellow card for a less nasty foul five minutes later when he body checked him to the ground after being beaten again. As usual Clinton Morison had plenty to say to the referee about both decisions, and in fact every decision anybody made all day.

The game seemed to be petering out towards half time in truth until suddenly a flash point occurred in the middle of midfield. A loose ball bounced up into the air just inside the Coventry half of the field and Heidar Helguson appeared to use the upper part of his arm to knock it down into space and attempt to run in behind the Coventry defence. Before the City players could even appeal Wright came tearing out of the centre half position and launched a wild chest high lunge on the QPR man leaving him poleaxed on the turf. It was a pretty horrific lunge and Stroud wasted no time in issuing a deserved straight red card. Wright reacted angrily, jabbing his finger at Stroud’s face and storming off down the tunnel, needless to say Morrison had a good long say about it all as well but quite what the Coventry players could complain about I do not know. They are always very physical visitors to Loftus Road and in the 37 minutes he had been on the pitch Wright had done nothing but get caught out of position or outpaced and then foul his man. He had done Routledge twice and could have done some serious damage to Helguson with a reckless lunge.

Frustration grew on the pitch as well with Gunnarsson booked for kicking Routledge, then Routledge was carded harshly after an argument with the ever vocal Morrison who somehow escaped with just a ticking off from the match official. He cannot say anything of any significance to the referee because despite talking to him constantly throughout every match he never seems to be booked for it. I do have a sneaking admiration for the way he plays the game — thoroughly irritating but good value entertainment wise.

QPR: Cerny 5, Delaney 6 (Ledesma 73, 5) Connolly 6, Stewart 7, Gorkss 7, Ephraim 5 (Hall 89, -), Leigertwood 7 (Di Carmine 81, 6), Routledge 6, Rowlands 5, Blackstock 5, Helguson 4

Subs Not Used: Mahon, Alberti

Booked: Routledge (off the ball incident), Helguson (foul)

Goals: Blackstock 87 (assisted Di Carmine)

Coventry: Westwood 7, Wright 3, Turner 6, Fox 7, Gunnarsson 7, Beuzelin 6, Doyle 6, Tabb 8, Mifsud 7 (Eastwood 84, -), Morrison 7, Best 6 (McKenzie 66, 5)

Subs Not Used: Marshall, Thornton, Wynter

Sent Off: Wright (dangerous foul play)

Booked: Wright (foul), Fox (dissent), Gunnarsson (foul), Westwood (time wasting)

Goals: Fox 73 (free kick)

Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 6 The Coventry fans seemed to be pretty irate with him and I suppose we would be in the same situation but it was hard to argue over any of the cards they received, including the sending off which even Chris Coleman says they will not be appealing against. I thought the booking of Routledge was harsh considering Morrison’s behaviour and only adding four minutes on at the end was a farce but other than that he was not too bad.

QPR 2 Charlton 1, Tuesday November 25, 2009

After a quarter of an hour Rangers took the lead with a terribly soft goal from a Charlton point of view. Nicky Weaver, a keeper in dire form at the moment, miskicked a clearance out to Gillespie wide on the Charlton right and he in turn miscontrolled the ball allowing Damiano Tommasi to swoop and steal possession. The Italian looked to have run the ball out of play on the Ellerslie Road side of the pitch and the visiting players seemed to stop expecting a flag but when the linesman signalled play on Tommasi beat Cranie for pace, no I’m not kidding, and sent in a dangerous low cross that was swept home by a totally unmarked Dexter Blackstock from twelve yards out.

The Charlton fans were furious that a throw in had not been given, but their team hardly covered themselves in glory here. Martin Cranie looks a shadow of the player we had here on loan last season — slow, cumbersome, lacking any sort of positional sense and carrying at least a stone of weight that he should not be. His promises to be a potential unfulfilled if he does not return to centre half and cut down on his off the field activities which are clearly affecting his game — when you’re being outpaced by Damiano Tommasi you need to have a long look at yourself.

Ephraim was later very harshly booked by referee Stroud when Youga pushed the ball past him down the line and then ran into him. Quite what Ephraim was meant to do to avoid the collision I’m not sure, short of disappearing in a puff of smoke he could not avoid committing the foul — even if it was a free kick, and it’s a big if, to book him for it was ridiculously harsh.

Mark Hudson, by now playing as an auxiliary striker, got Charlton’s first yellow card of the game during three otherwise uneventful minutes of stoppage time — his late lunge on Delaney down by the corner flag after he cleared the ball looked ugly and may have brought a red with another referee but Stroud gave him the benefit of the doubt. The final whistle sounded seconds later.

QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 6, Stewart 7, Gorkss 7, Delaney 5, Ephraim 6, Tommasi 5 (Mahon 62, 6) Leigertwood 6, Parejo 6 (Ledesma 73, 6), Di Carmine 5 (Agyemang 46, 7), Blackstock 7

Subs Not Used: Cole, Oastler

Booked: Leigertwood (foul), Delaney (foul), Ephraim (foul)

Goals: Blackstock 17 (assisted Tommasi), 80 (assisted Ephraim)

Charlton: Weaver 5, Cranie 5 (Sam 82, -), Primus 6, Hudson 6, Youga 5, Gillespie 6, Racon 7, Semedo 6, Bouazza 7, Waghorn 5 (Varney 62, 5), Gray 5

Subs Not Used: Elliot, Holland, Fortune

Booked: Hudson (foul)

Goals: Racon 30 (assisted Bouazza)

Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 6 Pretty standard display from Mr Stroud this. He was fussy at times, blowing when an advantage could have been played, and the yellow card for Ephraim was a joke but by and large he was alright, steady, nothing more than that. He’s consistent if nothing else.

Bristol City 2 QPR 2, Saturday August 11, 2007

Rowlands’ frustrations only increased two minutes later when Bristol City were awarded a throw in which was clearly a QPR ball, the midfielder was booked by referee Keith Stroud for his protests.

The last action of the half saw loud shouts for a QPR penalty waved away. Martin Rowlands sent a devilish corner right into the heart of the six yard box and with Nardiello preparing to pounce Vasko seemed to scoop the ball round from down by his side down to his feet followed by a clearance. Nardiello was livid with the referee who was looking right at the incident and carried on his protests after the half time whistle which resulted in a booking as the teams left the field. John Gregory also confronted the officials on the pitch at the break but it was of course to no avail.

Fontaine introduced himself to Blackstock with a hefty smash right into his back as he lept for a long ball forward. Fontaine completely cleaned Blackstock out and left him prostrate on the turf. Referee Keith Stroud awarded a free kick but failed to award a card and frankly, after booking two players for arguing against his crap decisions in the first half, that irritated me a little. I mean what do we want to cut out of our game more, players having a bit of a moan over a throw in decision or players being pole-axed with deliberate clean outs from behind?

Bristol City: Basso 7 (Henderson 46, 8), Orr 6, Carey 6, Vasko 4 (Fontaine 46 6), McAllister 6, Brian Wilson 7, Johnson 7, Elliott 8, McIndoe 7, Trundle 5 (Murray 79, 7), Showunmi 7

Subs Not Used: Jevons, Russell

Goals: Johnson 33, Murray 90

QPR: Camp 6, Rehman 6, Stewart 7, Mancienne 8, Curtis 6, Rowlands 9, Bolder 8, Bailey 7, Moore 7, Nardiello 7 (Ephraim 59, 7), Blackstock 7 (Nygaard 69, 7)

Subs Not Used: Cole, Bignot, Cullip

Booked: Rowlands (dissent), Nardiello (dissent), Stewart (foul)

Goals: Blackstock 34 (assisted Bolder), Stewart 90 (assisted Nygaard)

Referee: Kevin Stroud (Hampshire) 6 A little overfussy at times but did try to let the game flow and keep the cards in his pocket — there’s a time and a place though and after booking two players for dissent it seemed a little daft to allow Fontaine off with a brutal clean out on Blackstock, especially as he then went onto book Stewart for something similar. Should have awarded QPR a penalty in the first half.

QPR 1 Preston 0, Tuesday April 3, 2007

When awarded their first corner of the game Preston worked it out to Songo'o on the edge of the box but Bolder raced out to get a block on his shot. The visitors, and the ever mouthy Graham Alexander in particular, appealed for handball but the referee waved them away. They'd have an even more crucial handball decision go against them later in the game as well.

Marc Nygaard retrieved possession just inside his own half and floated a glorious forty yard ball straight onto Blackstock's chest. Dexter brought the ball down with a killer touch, completely taking St Ledger out of the game, and then hammered an unstoppable shot past Lonergan and into the roof of the net. Loftus Road erupted and for the second time in as many games Blackstock was booked for over celebrating by referee Keith Stroud.

At the Loft End Ricketts and Alexander had good reason for a moan, not that a lack of reason had stopped them to this point, as time ticked away and Stroud missed a blatant penalty decision. Wilson, on for Matt Hill, won the ball at the back post under challenge from Blackstock who had his arms up above his head and inadvertently killed the ball stone dead with his elbow. It was a blatant penalty, but with Stroud unsighted he was relying on his linesman who kept his flag firmly down by his side.

Perhaps he just couldn't be doing with the hassle of giving such a crucial decision on that side of the ground. The fans in and around the P, Q and R blocks were magnificent in the second half, getting increasingly louder and more vociferous in their support as the half went on. By the end of the night it was hard to recall an atmosphere like it since the Oldham play off semi final. I wouldn't like to have given a penalty against them and then stand in that corner for another twenty minutes.

QPR were on the end of some rough decisions as well, Steve Lomas was absolutely cleaned out by a nasty fore arm smash from Alexander who was barely even spoken to by the referee. Within thirty seconds Adam Bolder had been booked for a sneaky push and kicking the ball away. Dexter Blackstock also looked to have a good penalty claim after beating Lonergan to a loose ball and collapsing but the free kick went against him.

QPR: Camp 8, Bignot 7, Cullip 8, Stewart 7, Mancienne 6 (Kanyuka 46, 6), Ainsworth 8 Bolder 8, Lomas 7, Cook 5 (Ricketts 46, 6) (Smith 82, -) , Nygaard 7, Blackstock 8

Subs not used: Cole, Furlong

Scorers: Blackstock 49

Bookings: Blackstock 50 (over celebrating), Cullip 54 (foul), Lomas 54 (dissent) Bolder 73 (foul/kicking the ball away)

Preston North End: Lonergan 7, Alexander 6, Pugh 6, St Ledger 7, Chilvers 7, Sedgwick 6, Whaley 7 (Dichio 75, 7), Hill 7 (Wilson 77, 7), Songo'o 7 (Agyemang 61, 7) Ricketts 7, Nugent 6

Subs not used: Henderson, Nowland.

Bookings: St Ledger 8 (foul)

Referee: K P Stroud 5 He's a referee I like but it's hard to give him a higher mark than five because he missed the most blatant handball penalty you're ever likely to see, booked Lomas for dissent and yet allowed Alexander to moan on and on and on and on and on at him all night, and allowed a forearm smash on Lomas to go without a card. Inconsistent.

Prior that all of that he refereed a 1-1 draw with Leicester in the autumn of 2006 — a game where Rangers got a penalty and Gareth McAuley was sent off for Leicester. In 2005/06 he refereed two matches at Loftus Road against Burnley (1-1) and Ipswich (2-1)

Stats

Stroud has had a couple of Premier League games this year, including Watford West Ham at the weekend where he sent off James Collins. So far this season he has sent off two players and booked 48 in 15 appointments. The eight yellows he showed at West Brom v Port Vale in the League Cup is his biggest haul in a single game.

Last season he booked 183 and sent seven off in 41 matches. That included Derby wins at Watford and at home to Leeds, and a 2-0 defeat at Wolves towards the end of the campaign.