Tim Robinson, who often finds himself refereeing the televised fixtures in the Championship, is in charge of the Thursday clash between QPR and Wolves.
Referee >>> Tim Robinson (West Sussex), refereed QPR’s home thrashing by Fulham last season.
Assistants >>> Mark Jones (Nottinghamshire) and Darren Blunden (Kent)
Fourth Official >>> Keith Stroud (Hampshire), nutter on a nutter’s streak, recently conjured eight yellows and two reds out of Rangers’ visit to Nottingham Forest.
QPR 1 Fulham 3, Saturday February 8, 2016, Championship
But there was some sort of rally at the start of the second half as Mackie freed Hoilett on the edge of the box to burst into the area only for Michael Madl to chop him down right on the line. It was the dictionary definition of a yellow card, but referee Tim Robinson didn’t even speak to the offender, and then allowed Scott Parker to stand seven yards away from the kick as it was taken. As QPR - stupidly, moronically - decided to touch the ball rather than just hitting it, Parker was only about a foot away from it when it was finally struck by Phillips and was therefore able to block it away. Shambolic refereeing all round really, and Onuoha was subsequently yellow carded for telling him as much.
It was a curious performance from Robinson on his first ever outing at Loftus Road. Not exactly a difficult game to control, given how totally uncompetitive it was, but he nevertheless made a bit of a pig’s ear of it. Later Jamie O’Hara was carded, either for a foul in back play or something he’d said, or both. When you’re upsetting players from both sides equally to the point where they’re all getting booked for dissent you’ve got to have a look closer to home I think. Hall was later yellow carded for a foul nowhere near as bad as Madl’s, in a more neutral area, while in the first half a seemingly obvious hack on Massimo Luongo as he accelerated into a dangerous area brought no free kick at all.
It was a curious performance from Robinson on his first ever outing at Loftus Road. Not exactly a difficult game to control, given how totally uncompetitive it was, but he nevertheless made a bit of a pig’s ear of it. Later Jamie O’Hara was carded, either for a foul in back play or something he’d said, or both. When you’re upsetting players from both sides equally to the point where they’re all getting booked for dissent you’ve got to have a look closer to home I think. Hall was later yellow carded for a foul nowhere near as bad as Madl’s, in a more neutral area, while in the first half a seemingly obvious hack on Massimo Luongo as he accelerated into a dangerous area brought no free kick at all.
When, midway through the half, Jamie Mackie caught Fulham pissing around in possession and ran clear on goal only to be chopped down by Dan Burn a red card seemed the only likely outcome. Robinson bottled the big decision and showed a yellow, before then booking O’Hara a short time later, and speaking to Mackie at length about his own dissent — a farcical five minutes at the hands of an official out of his depth.
QPR: Smithies 6; Perch 5, Onuoha 4, Hall 5, Konchesky 4; Phillips 3 (Chery 76, 6), Toszer 3, Luongo 5, Hoilett 5 (El Khayati 65, 6); Polter 4 (Washington 46, 5), Mackie 6
Subs not used: Hill, Henry, Ingram, Petrasso
Goals: Chery 89 (assisted Tozser)
Bookings: Onuoha 48 (dissent), Hall 82 (foul)
Fulham: Lonergan 6; Fredericks 7, Madl 6, Burn 8, Christensen — (Garbutt 6, 8); Amorebieta 6, Parker 7 (Ince 78, 6), O’Hara 7, Cairney 8; McCormack 8, Dembele 7 (Hundman 84, -)
Subs not used: Richards, Smith, Kacaniklic, Lewis
Goals: McCormack 35 (assisted Cairney), Dembele 41 (assisted Garbutt), Cairney 45+2 (assisted Dembele)
Bookings: Burn 63 (foul), O’Hara 65 (dissent)
Referee — Tim Robinson (West Sussex) 4 Made rather a pig’s ear of a one-sided, uncompetitive game which doesn’t bode particularly well. One red card challenge from Burn only received a yellow, one yellow card challenge on Hoilett didn’t get a card at all, one foul on Luongo was waved away altogether, two players were booked for dissent when their frustration with the officials all became too much for them… but he was very hot and precise about the placement of throw ins. Not as bad as QPR, but not far off.
Robinson has already clocked up a formidable 83 yellows cards and three reds in just 17 appointments this season. Three of his last five games have been televised and he’s on a hot streak of 65 yellow cards in 11 matches, including two separate nine card hauls at Portsmouth v Wycombe and Orient v Exeter, and an eight yellow card mission at Newcastle v Wolves. That was his last appointment with our visitors on Thursday, a 2-0 win at the league leaders.
Robinson stepped up to the Football League list in 2012/13, prior to which he'd been refereeing in the Conference. He spent the majority of his first three seasons in the bottom two divisions, and only had two Championship games during 2014/15. He finished that campaign with 120 yellows and three reds from 31 appointments.
Championship >>> Stuart Attwell has Bristol City v Ipswich on Saturday.
The Twitter @loftforwords
Pictures — Action Images