Nottinghamshire referee David Coote is the man in the middle at Loftus Road on Sunday — his third Reading appointment of the season, and first QPR game of his career.
Referee >>> David Coote (Nottinghamshire), first ever QPR appointment.
Assistants >>> Ian Cooper (Kent) and Thomas Ramsey (Essex)
Fourth Official >>> David Phillips (West Sussex)
So far this season Coote has refereed 26 games, with 11 of those in the Championship. He has shown 75 yellows and two reds in those games — a low average of 2.88 bookings a game. His biggest haul of cards in a single game came in a Reading game — seven yellows in Bournemouth’s 2-1 win at the Madejski Stadium in December. He’d booked seven the week before at Wigan v Derby as well — must have been a bad week at home. He was also in charge of Reading’s 2-1 opening day win at home to Ipswich so this is his third Royal appointment of the season so far.
Last season he showed 96 yellows and four reds in 32 appointments — 11 of which were in the Championship. He booked six and sent one off in a South Yorkshire derby between Doncaster and Sheffield United — his biggest haul of the season.
FA Cup >>> Phil Dowd has Man City v Chelsea and Howard Webb takes Arsenal v Liverpool — the two outstanding games of the weekend’s fifth round action.
League Two >>> All three of our regular-watch villains are in action in the bottom division this weekend with Trevor Kettle at Hartlepool v Newport, Stuart Attwell taking Portsmouth and Wimbledon, and Gavin Ward at Southend and Exeter.
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Pictures — Action Images