The man who sent off both Martin Rowlands and Ben Watson at Swansea earlier this season is back in charge of Rangers this Saturday as Middlesbrough visit Loftus Road.

QPR v Middlesbrough
Referee – Keith Hill (Hertfordshire)
Assistants – Foley (London) and Margetts (Essex)
Fourth Official – Busby (Oxfordshire)

This is the second time this season Hill has taken charge of a Rangers fixture and Jim Magilton will be hoping for no repeat of the first at Swansea where two QPR players were sent off. In fairness to the official neither Martin Rowlands nor Ben Watson could have any complaints about their red cards at the Liberty Stadium and Hill was marked as seven out of ten by LFW and currently sits third on the referee league.

Referee: Keith Hill (Hertfordshire) 7 While it may be easy to rant and rave about us going down to nine men at a time when we were dominating and it all being the referee’s fault that we lost I have to say I don’t think Hill did very much wrong on the day. I agreed with all the cards handed out and Rowlands and Watson have only themselves to blame for the red cards. Perhaps put the pressure on himself by producing cards too early, and definitely missed a blatant penalty on Trundle at the end, but overall wasn’t too bad. LFW Swansea Match Report

That is one of 16 games refereed by Hill this season during which he has shown 56 yellows (3.5 a game) and three reds. He’s been getting more prolific with the cards recently – his three biggest hauls of yellows in a single game (five, six and seven) have come in ascending order over the last three games. He has done four Championship fixtures so far showing 11 yellows and two reds in the process.

Last season Hill only did 19 games in total, so he is well on the way to matching that already. He showed 64 yellows (3.368 a game) and two reds in those fixtures. That included just two Championship games, Ipswich v Reading and Birmingham v Charlton where he booked five and sent another off. It also included QPR’s 4-0 League Cup rout of League One side Carlisle at Loftus Road. His rating of seven in that match placed him seventh on the ,a href=http://www.clubfanzine.com/QPR/v2.showNews.php?id=11991>referee league.

Referee - Keith Hill (Hertfordshire) 7/10 Barely noticed him and he let the game flow as much as possible. Good showing and the majority of the decisions were sound and sensible. LFW Carlisle Match Report

In the 2007/08 season Hill was in charge of two QPR games – a 1-1 home draw with Watford when John Gregory was still in charge and Mikele Leigertwood was harshly sent off, and a 3-2 win at home to Blackpool when Akos Buzsaky scored a wonderful lob. An average mark of seven, achieved with two contrasting displays, placed him fourth in our table for that season.

Referee: Keith Hill (Hertfordshire) 5 Missed what looked like a penalty to me right at the death and very harshly sent Leigertwood off. In a derby game as fiercely and fairly competitive as this one you expect a few tackles to fly in and Leigertwood's two offences were worth a yellow card and a ticking off at most. LFW Watford Match Report

Referee: Keith Hill (Hertfordshire) 9 Hardly noticed him all night, bit of a dodgy free kick awarded to QPR on the edge of the box in the second half but otherwise hard to fault. -LFW Blackpool Match Report

Hill’s worst mark in a recent QPR game came in 2006/07 when the R’s were beaten 3-2 at Sheffield Wednesday thanks to a very questionable penalty given by Hill against goalkeeper Paul Jones who appeared to get a good piece of the ball when he was accused of felling Stephen MacLean who had hesitated when played through and was glad of the chance to hit the deck. He finished 26th on the referee league that year.

Referee: K Hill (Hertfordshire) 4 Blew his whistle constantly. Pulled people up for the most minimal of fouls, insisted that every free kick was taken from the exact spot of the foul, even if that meant making a player retake a kick by his own corner flag twice. Got the penalty decision wrong and then, having given it, failed to send off Paul Jones when he should have done. Did nothing about the time wasting at the end of the second half. Basically he was very, very picky which is quite unlike him. LFW Sheff Wed Match Report

Prior to that Hill was a regular appointment for us in League One refereeing a further six matches. His overall QPR record from ten games refereed is five Rangers wins, three defeats and three draws. QPR have received 20 yellow cards and three reds in those games while our opponents have had 20 yellows and no reds.

Elsewhere this weekend our old favourite Trevor Kettle has Colchester v Bristol Rovers. I notice also that Mike Jones, the Premiership referee dropped after the beach ball incident at Sunderland and poor handling of Burnley v Hull and referee of our game against Coventry last weekend, has the Huddersfield v Leeds grudge match. Lower league but a tough one for an out of form referee to handle certainly.

Looking further ahead to Watford on Monday we have Andy Penn in charge, just as we did at Vicarage Road last season when we lost 3-0, Penn awarded the Hornets a ridiculous penalty, and he finished with LFW’s lowest mark of the season. More on that on Sunday.

Photo: Action Images

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