QPR travel to Yorkshire on Saturday to face Sheffield Wednesday with Neil Swarbrick listed as referee for his second Rangers' fixture this season
Sheffield Wednesday v Queens Park Rangers
Referee – Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)
Assistants – Harrington (Cleveland) and Haycocks (Yorkshire)
Fourth Official – Reeves (Yorkshire)
Poor old Andy D’Urso, I almost feel guilty. No sooner have I stuck up for him in this column and said that he’s improved immeasurably in recent months then he has a bloody nightmare week. After sending off Andy Griffin for a tackle that was barely a foul at all at Loftus Road last Sunday he had to spend his Monday watching the video back and filling the forms in to rescind that. Then it was up to Sheffield for Tuesday night’s visit of West Brom to Hillsborough where he played several hours of extra time, during which West Brom scored a winner, and again dished out a red card in highly dubious circumstances – Sheff Wed’s Jermaine Johnson the victim this time. This is very sadly like the D’Urso of old and God only knows we’d all hoped we’d seen the back of that.
One man who has remained consistently God awful throughout his career is Mike Riley and he announced his pompous, egotistical, incompetent arrival in the Championship on Tuesday with a quiet night at Hull – only the four red cards in that one.
This Saturday we’re in Sheffield ourselves, and it’s a second QPR appointment of the season for Neil Swarbrick from Lancashire. He’s currently joint 15th on the referee league with an average rating of six following our draw with Ipswich before Christmas. One booking in the game that day, Rowan Vine, and a late QPR penalty appeal waved away after a possible foul on Adam Bolder.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 6 - Kept cards in his pocket and allowed the game to flow where possible but seemed to let Ipswich get away with far more than QPR to such an extent that when we did finally get a free kick right at the end of the game the whole ground cheered the decision. Got the penalty decision right I think, Bolder went over very easily. LFW Ipswich Match Report
So far this season he has shown 63 yellows (2.03 a match) and seven reds in 31 matches which is an excellent average for fans of common sense and free flowing matches – backed up by his performance at Loftus Road earlier this season. Two of his seven red cards have come in his last three matches though so maybe he’s toughening up. Hopefully not. Last season he showed 96 yellows (2.8 a match) and nine reds in 34 matches so he’s certainly calmed down a bit since then.
He was in charge for our 3-1 win at Leicester last season as well. Six bookings in that game, including a crazy one against Danny Cullip, but improved in the second half and has been much better this season. A performance worthy of tenth in last season’s referee league.
Ref: N Swarbrick (Lancashire) 6 - Absolutely terrible in the first half, culminating in the farcical Cullip booking, greatly improved in the second apart from the dodgy late penalty decision, good job that wasn't crucial. LFW Leicester Match Report
Elsewhere this weekend the best referee in the country pays the Championship a rare visit – Howard Webb has Stoke v Burnley. The second best is also down at our level as Mark Halsey has Hull v Scunthorpe which is always a feisty affair. The worst referee in the country, Andy Hall, has Plymouth v Sheff Utd. Lower down our old friend Trevor Kettle has Stockport and Bradford. Andy D’Urso will attempt to recover from his nightmare week with Chester v Wrexham on Sunday – that’s a real grudge match, and a vital one for Wrexham, so he’s going to have to buck his ideas up.
Looking further ahead we have Keith Hill for the Blackpool, a very experienced official. More on him on Monday.