Bankes in charge of rare Loftus Road cup tie - Referee

Peter Bankes from Merseyside is the referee in the middle of QPR’s third round (yes, it does exist) League Cup tie against Sunderland on Wednesday.

Referee >>> Peter Bankes (Merseyside), two QPR appointments last season, two wins. We should have him stuffed.

Assistants >>> Darren Blunden (Kent) and Matt Foley (Hertfordshire)

Fourth Official >>> Oliver Langford (West Mids), refereed QPR’s opening day 3-0 win against Leeds. Those were the days.

History

QPR 1 Leeds United 0, Saturday November 28, 2015, Championship

Ale Faurlin was exemplary in the middle of the midfield, but a seventh minute free kick booted off towards Acton after Hoilett had been felled by Liam Bridcutt — the Sunderland loanee was booked on his debut — wasn’t his finest hour. Nor was Hoilett’s header straight up in the air on the half hour after a good cross from Paul Konchesky — even lesser spotted than QPR youth team players in the first team. Nor was Robert Green inexplicably deciding to come charging 40 yards away from his goal to try, and fail, to intercept a straightforward Leeds punt down the field leaving Chris Wood to stride round him but take too long over the finish to exploit the open goal.

The teams both had similar penalty appeals waved away by referee Peter Bankes either side of half time. Hoilett seemed to have been clearly pushed under a Konchesky cross for the first, Wood likewise for the second, but neither were awarded.

QPR: Green 5; Perch 6, Onuoha 7, Hall 7, Konchesky 6; Petrasso 6 (Austin 57, 7), Sandro 7, Faurlin 8, Yun 6 (Chery 57, 7), Hoilett 7 (Henry 89, -), Phillips 6

Subs not used: Luongo, Smithies, Angella, Tozser

Goals: Austin 58 (assisted Faurlin)

Leeds: Silvestri 7; Wootton 5, Belusci 5, Cooper 5, Taylor 5; Mowatt 6 (Botaka 67, 5), Bridcutt 6, Cook 6, dallas 6; Antenucci 5 (Erwin 80, -), Wood 4

Subs not used: Byram, Murphy, Doukara, Adeyemi, Peacock-Farrell

Booked: Bridcutt 6 (foul), Wootton 35 (foul), Cook 82 (foul)

Referee — Peter Bankes (Merseyside) 7 At the time I thought the Junior Hoilett penalty appeal looked a stick on, but I haven’t seen it back. Thought his time keeping was intriguing — two minutes added to the end of a first half when Dallas had been down for twice that by himself, then four minutes in the second despite a lack of injuries and goals. But overall, pretty decent - kept control nicely, not a lot of cards, good advantage played at times.

Wolves 2 Queens Park Rangers 3, Wednesday August 19, 2015, Championship

It took a quarter of an hour for the first goal to arrive. Matt Phillips thought he should have had a free kick down the QPR left but referee Peter Bankes, rightly, said no and the home team broke away down their right. James Henry's cross was deflected by Paul Konchesky and the ball fell to Afobe on the six yard line who took one touch and then dispatched it into the bottom corner.

The travelling faithful in the side stand feared Ramsey's Cardiff experience had made him timid with his substitutions. Faurlin seemed to be blowing hard. Bankes booked Nedum Onuoha for the tackle of the match on the hour and Green, having stood so far off to his right he was closer to the corner flag than his left hand post, was nowhere close to getting back across to Afobe's free kick as it flew over the wall and, mercifully, into the side netting. Henry was also booked on his return to the club he supports — a sensible, cynical, tactical foul as Wolves threatened another counter.

Bankes added five extra minutes, seemingly because he was enjoying the game so much rather than because there had been a load of substitutions or injuries in the second half (there hadn't) but there was to be no last-second heartbreak for Rangers this time and the players celebrated on the pitch with their manager at full time.

Wolves: Martinez 3; Iorfa 6, Stearman 6, Hause 5, Golbourne 6; Henry 7 (Van La Parra 63, 6), Coady 6, McDonald 7, Edwards 7; Afobe 8, Dicko 7 (Le Fondre 46, 5)

Subs not used: Ikeme, Price, Doherty, Ojo, Ebanks-Landell

Goals: Afobe 17 (assisted Henry/Edwards), McDonald 24 (unassisted)

Bookings: Hause 45 (foul), Le Fondre 74 (foul), Coady 90+4 (foul)

QPR: Green 7; Perch 6, Hall 6, Onuoha 6, Konchesky 5; Faurlin 7 (Polter 89, -), Henry 7; Luongo 8, Chery 8 (Doughty 78, 7), Phillips 8; Austin 7

Subs not used: Hill, Gladwin, Lumley, Emmanuel-Thomas, Hoilett

Goals: Austin 38 (assisted Phillips), Phillips 52 (assisted Luongo), 72 (assisted Luongo)

Bookings: Onuoha 60 (foul), Henry 64 (foul)

Referee — Peter Bankes (Merseyside) 7 Thought he got the Onuoha booking badly wrong, that looked a good tackle to me, and where on earth he got five minutes at the end from when the second half had three substitutions, three goals and no injuries I don't know. Overall though, pretty decent.

Stats

Bankes has been in hot form this season, with 30 yellows and four reds shown already in just seven matches officiated. Those four red cards have come in the last five matches, including two at Brentford’s 1-1 Championship draw with Sheff Wed, and one at Rotherham v Forest in their 2-2 draw last time out in which six players were also booked.

Last season he went through the first 17 games of the season without showing a red card at all, and only showed one in his first 26 appointments. Then, suddenly, he showed four in his final 13 games of the season which, when combined with the start of this season, mean Bankes has flashed eight in his last 20 appointments.

Other listings

League Cup: Just to add to the spice of the Northampton v Man Utd fixture — Stuart Attwell is the man in the middle.

The Twitter @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

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