Mason in the middle for United trip
Friday, 6th Apr 2012 00:03 by Clive Whittingham

Lee Mason has his second QPR appointment of the season this Sunday as the R’s face a daunting trip to Old Trafford to play Manchester United.

Referee >>> Lee Mason (Lancashire) second QPR appointment of the season following our 1-0 defeat at Liverpool in December.

Assistants >>> Andy Garratt (West Midlands) and Ceri Richards (Carmarthenshire)

Fourth Official >>> Kevin Friend (Leicestershire), refereed both our fixtures with Everton this season from which we took four points.

Previously

Liverpool 1 QPR 0, Saturday December 10, 2011, Premiership

And so it continued. Suarez, investigating possibilities down the QPR right this time, fed Maxi in with a glorious reverse ball but then showed his human side by toeing the ball horribly wide of the post from a presentable position after the Spaniard returned possession to him. Within four minutes he’d hit the deck in the penalty area in what is becoming trademark theatrical fashion, butAlejandro Faurlin’s challenge was rightly deemed legal by referee Lee Mason, and then jinked his way to the byline down the left again, cut the ball back again, and watched with resigned frustration as a penalty area populated only by blue and white hooped shirts gratefully received the ball. There is no such thing as a one man team, but Liverpool weren’t far off it on Saturday.

Rangers endured a halfhearted, and fairly pathetic, penalty shout from Glen Johnson seven minutes before half time with Armand Traore accused of offending against him but Lee Mason waved it all away and miraculously QPR went down the other end and managed a shot on goal. Not a particularly dangerous shot on goal it must be said, high into the Kop from a distance on the ludicrous side of ambitious by Shaun Wright-Phillips. He’s been unlucky not to open his QPR account so far - with dodgy offside calls, goal line clearances and the woodwork denying him against West Brom, Newcastle and Wolves – but he looks like a frustrated man in front of goal now, wildly thrashing at any half chance from any range.

Things didn’t get a lot better for Neil Warnock who then lost Anton Ferdinand to a hamstring injury after he was badly fouled bringing the ball out from defence by Charlie Adam. Once he’d been helped from the field and replaced by Bradley Orr (Luke Young filled in at centre half) Lee Mason awarded a drop ball when he should have been preparing his yellow card. An incredible decision. Not important in the grand scheme of things but so obviously wrong it was hard to believe your own eyes when it happened.

Mason didn’t improve much – awarding a corner to Liverpool just after the hour when you could see from the far end of the ground that it was a goal kick, and then as good as admitting he was wrong by awarding QPR a free kick for a non-existent penalty box offence almost before Adam had even delivered the ball. Not the finest quarter of an hour of refereeing we’ll see this season.

Liverpool sent on Craig Bellamy for Maxi Rodriguez with predictable results. He immediately fouledArmand Traore and delivered a volley of abuse to referee Lee Mason, then he curled a free kick into the side netting with half the crowd believing he’d scored after Young fouled Suarez, and finally he was yellow carded much to his own disbelief for basically being Craig Bellamy. A ten minute cameo to basically sum up the man.

With a minute to go, Alejandro Faurlin hit the deck in the box with what appeared to be a shameful attempt to con the referee into awarding a penalty. Certainly Martin Skrtel felt so, the defender leaned over Faurlin as he lay on the ground and delivered a barrage of abuse into his ear but video replays later suggested he may actually have been kicked in the chest after all. Bradley Orr was denied by Enrique with a clearing header at the far post after more good work from Traore.

Liverpool: Reina 6, Johnson 7, Skrtel 7, Agger 7, Enrique 7, Maxi 7 (Bellamy 78, 6), Adam 7, Henderson 6, Downing 8 (Shelvey 86, -), Suarez 9, Kuyt 7

Subs Not Used: Doni, Carroll, Coates, Carragher, Kelly

Booked: Agger (foul), Bellamy (dissent)

Goals: Suarez 47 (assisted Adam)

QPR: Cerny 9, Young 6, Gabbidon 7, Ferdinand 7 (Orr 50, 6), Traore 7, Mackie 6 (Hill 78, 6), Barton 6, Faurlin 7, Wright-Phillips 6, Smith 5 (Campbell 66, 6), Bothroyd 6

Subs Not Used: Putnins, Derry, Buzsaky, Connolly

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 7 Not a lot to argue with here – the replays back Faurlin’s case for a late penalty but at the time it looked like he was attempting to con the officials and they only get one look at it so hard to argue with them now when I agreed at the time. Points off for his mad ten minutes in the second half that included the crazy Ferdinand incident where we lost a centre back for two to three weeks after a nasty tackle by Charlie Adam and didn’t even get a free kick for it.

Cardiff 2 QPR 2, Saturday April 23, 2011, Championship

The sloppy defending continued on the quarter hour, although QPR were perhaps a little unfortunate to be defending at all after J’Lloyd Samuel had overrun the ball down the left flank and then taken an obvious dive to win a free kick from Bradley Orr – one of the few decisions referee Lee Mason got wrong on the day. Peter Whittingham whipped in the free kick from wide and Cardiff appealed for a penalty after Dekel Keinan hit the deck at the back post after clashing with Heidar Helguson. It looked to me, from the far end of the ground, like they’d just got tangled up with each other and it was the very definition of six of one and half a dozen of another. From the resulting throw in Cardiff were able to find Burke completely unmarked in the area and he drilled wide when well placed to do better. I’ve written in my notes around the half hour mark that the game seemed to be settling down. QPR were keeping possession better than they have in the three most recent games, though still not doing so that well, while Cardiff were happy, mostly through Whittingham, to keep pumping balls in behind the QPR defence and turning what seemed to be a very nervous back four around. Lee Mason showed a yellow card for the first time in the game when Whittingham deliberately thrust up and arm to bring a ball down and prevent it going through to Bradley Orr who would have been flying into space down the right had the ball reached him but overall there was little to choose between the sides at this point and the game seemed to be calming down.

I cannot possibly describe to you therefore just how frustrating it was to concede another goal having weathered the early Cardiff storm. Some repeat themes led to it – a ball in behind QPR into the right channel had the defence in trouble and Jay Bothroyd was given far too much time and space having collected it to do as he wanted. On this occasion, rather than shooting, he crossed into the area and after the ball had been deflected into his path by Matt Connolly’s hand Bellamy lashed the ball into the top corner to give his side the lead. Lee Mason held his hands aloft to indicate that an advantage had been played and a penalty would have been awarded anyway had Bellamy not scored.

A foul on Smith by Quinn wide on the left gave Taarabt a chance to cross from wide but he overhit and missed the seven waiting players in the penalty area. Then Tommy Smith, who certainly wasn’t having his best game for the club, kept a Paddy Kenny pass in right on the touchline and set up Routledge to cross for Helguson at the back post. The big Icelandic striker became embroiled in a wrestling match with Quinn as the cross arrived and when both players crashed to the floor Mason awarded a free kick to Cardiff – whoever was the man on the goal side was always likely to get that decision, had it been Helguson Rangers could have had a penalty.

Rangers conceded another free kick, right at the other end of the field, almost immediately. Burke moved the ball past Gorkss on the edge of the area and then ran into the Latvian who could hardly get out of the way but was penalised by Lee Mason anyway. The free kick seemed perfectly placed, right of centre and right on the edge of the area, for Peter Whittingham to try with his left foot and although he did just that his shot was poor, drilled low and straight into the wall which held firm.

Having penalised Gorkss when he couldn’t really get out of the way Mason then booked Quinn in a similar situation, Routledge was the man blocked off on this occasion as he steamed forward in a pacey counter attack. Taarabt’s free kick was delivered into a better area than his last attempt but Bywater flew off his line and claimed it well.

Mason, having added three minutes to a first half with no injuries or substitutions, then added just two to a second half of several stoppages and four substitutions but Cardiff were a spent force by this point while QPR had missed their one big chance. A draw was a much better result for the Londoners anyway, and the reaction of the players when the whistle duly followed said everything about what the result and performance meant.

Cardiff: Bywater 6, McNaughton 6, Quinn 7, Keinan 6, Samuel 6, Burke 6 (Emmanuel-Thomas 77, 6), Whittingham 7, McPhail 7, Olofinjana 7, Bellamy 8 (Chopra 87, -), Bothroyd 8

Subs Not Used: Heaton, Rae, Hudson, Blake, Matthews

Booked: Whittingham (handball), Quinn (foul)

Goals: Bothroyd 6 (unassisted), Bellamy 35 (assisted Bothroyd)

QPR: Kenny 8, Orr 6, Gorkss 5, Connolly 6 (Hall 80, 7), Hill 6, Derry 7, Faurlin 6, Routledge 8, Smith 5 (Agyemang 69, 7), Taarabt 8, Helguson 6

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Buzsaky, Hulse, Ephraim, Miller

Goals: Taarabt 10 (assisted Faurlin), 71 (assisted Routledge)

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 8 One or two soft decisions, and Cardiff are as usual complaining bitterly about a penalty appeal of theirs he waved away but I think he called that one right. Overall he refereed the game very well, giving it every chance and only handing out cards when absolutely necessary. He’s not normally my favourite referee but he was excellent here.

Bristol City 1 QPR 1, Friday October 22, 2010

City sensed their chance. They loaded the left side of their team with Rose, Stead and Haynes in an effort to exploit the space left when Walker ran forward for QPR. Frustration started to grow in the visiting ranks with Walker rightly yellow carded for a show of dissent when he tried to take Stead on, lost the ball and then fouled his man on halfway. A second yellow card quickly followed for Derry who fouled Marvin Elliott to prevent another swift City counter attack – that one looked harsher from referee Lee Mason, but Derry was too busy delivering a volley of abuse to Adel Taarabt who had lost the ball again to create the problem to complain to the referee. He did find time to ask a question of Mason a minute later though when Elliott committed exactly the same foul on Kyle Walker in exactly the same part of the pitch and the exact same situation but was let off with just a warning.

Then in the final seconds of three added minutes Shaun Derry hooked an improvised shot over James who watched with heart in mouth as it dropped a foot wide of the far post. Derry was actually lucky to still be involved in the game at this stage as just a minute earlier he was the subject of a terrible tackle from Danny Rose back in his own half. Two footed, off the ground, late and nowhere near the ball it was as clear a red card as you’ll see all season and why Mr Mason chose to only issue a yellow when he’s usually not shy of handing out cards like confetti at a wedding only he knows. Rose strikes me as an enthusiastic player rather than a nasty one, so I’m not for one minute suggesting that he meant to hurt Derry or even execute the challenge in the way that he did, but it was an absolute horror all the same and the red card should have been out before Derry even hit the ground.

Even from that chance though Rangers immediately looked vulnerable to a quick break and Faurlin was harshly yellow carded for holding Stead as City broke down field.

There were further corners for Rangers, and a late half hearted penalty appeal from Marvin Elliott who felt Clint Hill had impeded his advance towards a back post cross, but having worked so hard to get back into the game there seemed to be a feeling among the QPR players that a point wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world while City for their part seemed so deflated by the late set back a second coming was well beyond them.

Bristol City: James 7, Carey 6, Caulker 8, Fontaine 7, McAllister 6, Adomah 6 (Cisse 58, 6), Elliott 6, Johnson 5, Rose 7, Haynes 5, Stead 8

Subs Not Used: Gerken, Hunt, Stewart, Clarkson, Sproule, Pitman

Booked: Rose (foul), Elliott (foul)

Goals: Stead 16 (unassisted)

QPR: Kenny 8, Walker 8, Gorkss 6, Connolly 6, Hill 6, Derry 6, Faurlin 7, Ephraim 5 (Smith 57, 6), Taarabt 5 (Agyemang 78, 7),Helguson 6 (Hulse 64, 6)

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Orr, Hall, Mahon

Booked: Walker (dissent), Derry (foul), Gorkss (foul), Faurlin (foul)

. Goals: Agyemang 84 (assisted Smith/Connolly)

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 6 My main criticism of him, as it always has been, is more a general point about the way he controls games rather than any specific criticism of anything he did tonight. I like a referee that calms situations, has a word on the run, and man manages players rather than flashing cards around. Mason always behaves like the kid that was bullied at school and now has a chance for revenge but doesn’t really have the self confidence to carry it out in any kind of serious way. So he hands out cards. For everything. Most referees start from a free kick and work up from there, but Mason’s starting point seems to be that everything is a booking. I thought Derry, Faurlin and Elliott were very unlucky to be booked here and it was never a six card match in a million years. The one genuinely nasty tackle in the game was from Rose and when a red card was surely the only option Mason showed yellow. Not a good referee.

Aston Villa 0 QPR 1, Wednesday September 24, 2008

Despite starting the second period poorly and being under pressure for almost the entire first 15 minutes QPR took a shock lead with their first attack of the half. Cometh the hour cometh Damion Stewart. Rangers owed a debt of gratitude first of all to referee Lee Mason who awarded a corner on the left flank when it was clearly a goal kick after coming off Buzsaky last. Normally in those circumstances the referee immediately blows up for a free kick to the defensive side but with little contact inside the area Guzan was able to get a firm punch away and Mason kept quiet. The ball ran across to Daniel Parejo wide on the QPR right and he whipped in a glorious cross which was gobbled up enthusiastically by Stewart at the near post after he’d remained forward following the corner. The Big Jamaican’s third of the season headed with such velocity it nearly ripped the net off the back of the posts.

Rangers also had cause to worry about the referee. I’m always wary of Premiership officials refereeing Premiership teams in situations like this because as soon as the lower league side takes the lead all the decisions start going the way of the big clubs and sure enough, probably with the incorrect decision to award QPR a corner for the goal still fresh in his mind, Mason started to award one questionable free kick after another to the home side. The most farcical saw Di Carmine, introduced for Agyemang with 25 minutes to go, chase Zat Knight down to his own byline and then watch perplexed as the big man fell over under no contact whatsoever and picked the ball up on his way down only to be awarded a free kick himself. Ledesma was harshly penalised for a foul that looked like a good tackle and Delaney was booked for a poor lunge on Craig Gardner - Villa quickly followed this up with bookings of their own for Gardner and Cuellar as frustration started to set in.

Parejo stung the keeper’s hands with a low drive eight minutes from time but QPR’s attacking ambition was becoming more and more limited with each passing minute and whenever they did venture into the Villa half Mason immediately whistled against them and the ball came flying back over their heads.

Aston Villa: Guzan 6, Gardner 6, Cuellar 6, Knight 5, Shorey 6, Osbourne 5 (Routledge 67, 5), Petrov 5, Barry 5, Ashley Young 7, Harewood 4 (Agbonlahor 67, 6), Carew 7

Subs Not Used: Friedel, Delfouneso, Davies, Salifou, Reo-Coker

Booked: Cuellar (foul) Gardner (foul)

QPR: Cerny 7, Connolly 7, Hall 8, Stewart 9, Delaney 5, Mahon 7, Rowlands 8, Parejo 8, Ledesma 8 (Balanta 90, -), Buzsaky 7 (Leigertwood 81, -), Agyemang 6 (Di Carmine 66, 6)

Subs Not Used: Camp, Blackstock, Gorkss, Ephraim

Booked: Delaney (foul)

Goals: Stewart 58 (assisted Parejo)

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 4 Not too bad at all for the first hour but after getting the corner decision so badly wrong in the lead up to the goal he then seemed desperate to even things up. Some strange decisions given from that point on reaffirming my dislike for Premiership refs when Premiership teams are losing to sides from lower divisions. Look after your own and all that, he certainly did his best for them in the last half hour.

Leicester 1 QPR 1, Saturday September 15, 2007

A quarter of an hour in Campbell did put the ball in the net but the referee and linesman both quickly signalled that an infringement had taken place and the goal was ruled out. From my seat at the opposite end of the ground it looked to me like Campbell had punched the ball in Devon White style but others around me felt that a foul on Camp had taken place. Either way the goal was disallowed and there were few complaints from the home side.

It took fully 20 minutes for QPR's long ball game to yield any kind of result. Finally one of the punts dropped around the penalty area and Blackstock was able to knock it back to Rowlands who volleyed over under pressure. Blackstock was clearly growing frustrated again as the half wore on and that only increased when he chased Bruno N'Gotty down to the corner flag and successfully robbed him of possession only for referee Lee Mason to award a generous free kick in the home team's favour.

Three minutes later though the inevitable Leicester goal arrived. Mikele Leigertwood gave the ball away in a poor area and then Damion Stewart foolishly left his foot in on Campbell after Leicester worked the ball into the penalty area. Mason quickly pointed to the spot. It was maybe a little soft, and Campbell certainly went over very easily, but he was heading away from the goal and offering little threat to QPR so Stewart should have left him well alone. The ever impressive Iain Hume stepped up and sent Camp the wrong way.

Rangers got a let off from the officials soon after though when Hume crossed for Cort to finally find the target with a header but a late flag from the linesman ruled the goal out.

Leicester: Fulop 7, N'Gotty 6, Kisnorbo 8, McAuley 7, Sheehan 7, Hume 8, Clemence 7, Wesolowski 7, Porter 8 (Kishishev 78, 5), Campbell 7 (Chambers 73, 5), Cort 5 (De Vries 90, -)

Subs Not Used: Henderson, Newton

Booked: McAuley (foul)

Goals: Hume 63 pen (assisted Campbell)

QPR: Camp 7, Cullip 8, Stewart 6, Rehman 5, Barker 5, Rowlands 5, Leigertwood 6, Bolder 5 (Ephraim 72, 8), Moore 3, Blackstock 6, Sahar 5 (Nardiello 46, 7)

Subs Not Used: Cole, Bignot, Curtis

Booked: Leigertwood (foul)

Goals: Leigertwood 82 (assisted Rowlands)

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 7 Well refereed with only a couple of cards. The penalty looked pretty blatant to me at the time and I'd certainly have been furious if we'd been denied a spot kick in similar circumstances.

West Brom 3 QPR 3, Tuesday October 31, 2006

With the two minutes of allotted stoppage time played referee Lee Mason allowed QPR to go ahead with their first corner kick of the night. The delivery from Cook was poor but the ball was cleared back out to him and he didn't need asking a second time. A beautiful curling ball to the back post isolated the home defence and Damion Stewart had the simple task of poking the ball home from three yards out.

Lee Mason didn't help their cause when they finally got Cook running towards the goal in a three on three only to be pulled right back to the halfway line for a free kick. Obviously Mr Mason, who remember bought that shocking dive from Gavin Williams and awarded a penalty to Ipswich at Loftus Road in August, wouldn't know the advantage rule if it wandered up and stole his wallet.

In the end that decision played into QPR's hands because, clearly embarrassed and apologetic to any QPR player that would listen, Mason quickly awarded a free kick for absolutely nothing right on the edge of the box right of centre. Lee Cook took the set piece - he feigned to chip it to the back post and then sent a curling effort an inch wide of the top corner with the keeper beaten.

WBA: Zuberbuhler 5, Watson 6, Perry 5, Davies 4, Greening 8, Ellington 7 (Phillips 72, 7), Gera 8, Albrechtsen 8, Kamara 9, Koumas 8, Wallwork 7 (Hartson 85, -)

Subs not used: Chaplow, McShane, Hoult

Scorers: Ellington 8, Kamara 40, Kamara 54

Rangers: Royce 8, Bignot 7, Rehman 4, Gallen 6, Ainsworth 5, Lomas 6, Cook 7, Stewart 7, Blackstock 6 (Nygaard 62, 6), Smith 6, Mancienne 6

Subs not used: Milanese, Ward, Rowlands, Jones

Bookings: Smith, Lomas, Bignot

Scorers: Stewart 45, Gallen 47, Nygaard 77

Referee: Lee Mason 5 (Lancashire) Did a half decent job overall but there were four terrible decisions in the second half that really stuck out. Lomas and Gallen were both penalised for winning the ball, Lee Cook was denied a run on goal by his lack of advantage rule knowledge and then to make up for that he gave QPR a free kick on the edge of the area for nothing. Also booked Jimmy Smith very harshly. Ably assisted by the young linesman from the Colchester game - there's always lots of very bizarre flag waving when he's around and last night was no exception, much to the home fans' disgust!

Prior to that Mason refereed a 3-1 home defeat by Ipswich in Gary Waddock’s time in charge that featured no cards, but a very debatable penalty being awarded to the Tractor Boys. He was also in charge for a 2-1 defeat at the City Ground against Nottingham Forest in 2004 and a 3-3 draw at Rushden and Diamonds when Gareth Ainsworth scored one of the QPR goals of all time and a staggering eight yellow cards were shown.

Stats

There are signs that Lee Mason may finally be mellowing from the card happy control freak of old. Just 71 yellow cards and two reds in 27 matches this season is just 2.6 cards a game, well below average for the league and for his previous seasons. He started like a maniac, booking 19 players in his first three games of the season, but has calmed somewhat since and has shown two cards or less in a game on 16 occasions this season including our trip to Anfield in December.

Mason has always been rather card happy, and his hefty total of 135 bookings and five reds across 33 appointments last season averaged out at about four cards a match. He showed eight when Arsenal beat Everton 2-1 last season, and nine when Chelsea drew 3-3 against Aston Villa. At Christmas he incurred the wrath of Alex Ferguson after allowing late Birmingham equaliser against United at St Andrews, and Ian Holloway was less than impressed when he missed a blatant Blackpool penalty appeal in a home game against Arsenal.

The season before he showed 106 yellows (3.02 a game) and seven reds in 35 games, the majority of which came in the Premiership. His highest total in a single match was seven yellows and a red in a bad tempered game between Birmingham and West Ham.

Other listings

Premiership >>> Martin Atkinson has the big Arsenal v Man City game on Sunday, despite being out of form in my opinion, while Howard Webb has Swansea v Newcastle on Friday. No punishment for Michael Oliver who scandalously failed to award Fulham a last minute penalty at Man Utd last week, he has Liverpool v Aston Villa.

Championship >>> Premiership referee Kevin Friend drops down to take charge of Middlesbrough v Cardiff before serving as fourth official at Man Utd v QPR on Sunday.

League One >>> Whoever decided that Stuart Attwell should finally be relegated from the Premiership list is clearly in the mood to rub it in a little bit more – he has Scunthorpe v Exeter this weekend. Trevor Kettle has Oldham v Charlton.

League Two >>> Gavin Ward has Dagenham v Burton Albion

Tweet @loftforwords

Pictures – Action Images

Photo: Action Images

Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.