QPR and Bristol City are refereed by Birmingham teacher Phil Gibbs for the first time on Tuesday night at Ashton Gate, scene of Saturday's farce.

Well there has only been one talking point from the weekend’s action that is for sure – and it came at Ashton Gate where QPR travel on Tuesday night. What more is there to say about the cataclysmically bad decision not to allow Freddy Sears’s goal on this ground at the weekend?

I have watched it several times and the thing that amazes me most is that referee Rob Shoebridge did not see it – he seems to be very well positioned looking straight at it. I cannot believe that none of the three officials saw it. And having not seen it did he then actually shout ‘play on’ at anybody? Because from what I can see three Crystal Palace players are celebrating by the corner flag and the Bristol City players are mostly trooping away, heads down, beginning the inquest. Had he said nothing and allowed things to move on for a moment would they have all simply lined up for the centre and handed the referee a get out of jail free card?

When I did my referee training I remember being told there would be days when I would leave my kit bag at the garden gate and swear I would never go back to it and I don’t doubt that Shoebridge had that day on Saturday. They also told me that player reaction can often make your mind up when you are unsure, although you should never base a decision on it, which makes me wonder again why they did not just allow it to run on slightly and see what happened.

I would love to have been a fly on the wall of the referee’s dressing room at half time just to hear what was said. They must have known straight away that a monumental cock up had occurred, which is why it amazes me that a goal was not given even after consultation with the linesman. How did they restart play? A mind blowing incident.

There is also an issue with the goal that needs to be discussed. A ball should not be able to bounce in and out like that. I noticed in a game last weekend, ironically at Crystal Palace, that Plymouth’s goal rebounded out of the net off the advertising hoardings behind and that could easily have been mistaken for a goal line clearance by an unsighted referee.

Anyway Shoebridge has been replaced in the Plymouth v Cardiff fixture by Russell Booth – I’m sure he was delighted to hear he had to travel down from Nottingham for that one. The league must be careful how they deal with this official now as referees go through patches of form and confidence just like players – last season they continued to sling Stuart Attwell in week after week remorselessly even though the young man was making massive mistakes with alarming frequency. There should be no repeat of that this season.

Just as an aside I wonder if the league has considered changing the main picture on the refereeing section of their website which is actually Shoebridge himself waving play on - link.

This Tuesday the referee in charge at Ashton Gate for our visit is Phil Gibbs, who has never refereed a QPR game before. He is an assistant headteacher from Birmingham who has booked five and sent one off in three matches so far this season – two in League Two and Blackpool’s win at Crewe in the League Cup. This is only his second season on the league list, and Tuesday night is his second Championship fixture following Swansea 4 Preston 1 last season. In 2008/09 he showed 67 yellow cards (2.792 a game) and three red in 24 games – a reasonable average distorted somewhat by an eight card haul at Gillingham v Chesterfield in December 2008. This is his first Bristol City fixture as well.

Elsewhere this Tuesday night Andy Hall has Stockport v Carlisle, Alan Wiley has Newcastle v Sheff Wed on Wednesday. Looking further ahead it’s another first QPR appointment for a referee on Saturday as John Linington takes charge of our home match with Nottingham Forest.

Photo: Action Images

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