QPR's Tuesday night match at Exeter is to be refereed by Steve Bratt, a man with an unhappy history with the R's in this part of the world.

Exeter City v QPR
Referee – Steve Bratt (West Midlands)
Assistants – Collins (Surrey) and Watts (Worcestershire)
Fourth Official – Barratt (Worcestershire)

QPR fans travelling to the South West on Tuesday will be hoping for a better performance from the man in the middle than they got from him last time. Steve Bratt is a relatively new and young referee, aged just 30 and on the national list since 2006, but he has already taken charge of one QPR game in this part of the world and his performance certainly left a bitter taste in the mouth.

To be fair everybody has bad games, Bratt is an inexperienced referee and his overall stats are on the lenient side of the average hinting that it might well have been a one off. But having said himself that the skills required to be a good referee include excellent man-management skills and a strong strength of mind and personality I wonder how he himself rated his performance at Home Park on Boxing Day 2006?

Rangers were beaten 2-1 that day, the traditional Sylvain Ebanks Blake goal in stoppage time condemning us to defeat, but had seven players booked and Mikele Leigertwood sent off after the final whistle for dissent. Plymouth got three harsh yellow cards themselves. His rating of one out of ten put him bottom of the 2007/08 referee league and made him one of only a four referees to ever be awarded a one on this website.

Referee: Steve Bratt (W Midlands) 1 Oooooooh somebody got a new whistle for Christmas didn't they? And my God he was determined to use it. Steve every tackle is not a foul - sometimes players tackle each other fairly and at that point there is no need for a whistle. There is also no need for a whistle every time two players jump and challenge for a ball in the air, this isn't five-a-side we are allowed to go for a ball over head height. Every time you blow your whistle there is no need to book somebody, we won't think any less of you if you leave that bloody card in your pocket once in a while. You don't get any kind of bonus for getting the card out really quickly either, try replacing it in your pocket every now and again rather than walking around with it in your hand and hoisting it every three seconds. Give yourself some time to think about the decision before booking somebody - maybe allow the fouled player to hit the deck and come to a complete stop before booking somebody for instance? Finally just give it up, give the bloody game up. A great many people gave up a great deal of time and money at Christmas to go to that bloody game yesterday and they didn't do it to watch some crazed lunatic racing around the pitch desperate to be the centre of attention. Pathetic, absolutely pathetic. LFW Plymouth Match Report

So, not good then. Last season Bratt showed 70 yellows (2.414 a match) and five reds in 29 games, this is his first fixture so far this season. In 2007/08 his eleven card haul at Plymouth contributed to 107 yellows (3.24 a game) and two reds in 33 matches. Interestingly, well for me anyway, he only did two Championship fixtures in the whole of last season, and has only done four in total since the Home Park massacre. I just wonder if they decided he needed a bit more experience lower down before being bumped up to our level again.

Elsewhere this week Trevor Kettle has Wycombe v Peterborough and Andy Hall, fresh from awarding a penalty at Yeovil for a foul outside the area even with a large divot mark in the grass for reference, has Macclesfield v Leicester.

Photo: Action Images

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