It's Oliver again for QPR and Villa
Wednesday, 21st Sep 2011 19:15 by Clive Whittingham

Only the third home match of the season and we're already onto repeat referee appointments – Michael Oliver, who refereed Villa at Everton and QPR at Wigan earlier this season, is in charge on Sunday.

Referee >>> Michael Oliver (Northumberland) promising young referee and son of former Football League official Clive Oliver. Has already refereed QPR and Aston Villa once each this season.

Assistants >>> John Flynn (Wiltshire) and Ron Ganfield ( Somerset ), Ganfield ran the line at Villa's game with Newcastle on Saturday.

Fourth Official >>> Lee Probert (Wiltshire), Premiership referee who once sent off Jude the Cat at Loftus Road for looking like Paul Furlong and confusing him.

History

Wigan 2 QPR 0, Saturday August 27, 2011

Wigan struggled in the league last year and ultimately survived only by the skin of their teeth on the final day of the campaign. That said they continue to unearth some seriously talented players from all four corners of the globe and QPR were tormented here by one from El Carmelo ( Columbia ) and another from South Norwood (Croydon). The former, Hugo Rodallega, threatened first with a jinking run across the face of the penalty area that ended with a generous free kick decision from referee Michael Oliver who did little to endear himself to the travelling faithful early on in this game. The resulting free kick from Spaniard Jordi Gomez flew high enough for Paddy Kenny to confidently pay it little attention but still close enough to skim the roof of the net as it disappeared out of play.

Two moments of action to report just after the half hour; one surprising, the other less so. Firstly Michael Oliver got his yellow card out for the first time in the game, but it wasn’t a QPR player on the receiving end. Adrian Lopez was the man punished for a cynical shirt pull on Adel Taarabt as the Moroccan skipped away him in the Wigan half. Secondly, Fitz Hall got injured again. The stomach acid is rising again I’m afraid but as mummy’s brave soldier battled on for another half hour or so I’ll save my second rant of the report for later.

Hall had treatment for whatever the hell was wrong with him this time and returned to the action but having a centre half pathetically limping around, signalling to the bench when he should have been concentrating on the game, and apparently unable to move up the field with the rest of the defence gave the QPR team a ragged feel and Wigan took full advantage.

Within a minute of play resuming Moses found space in the area and cracked a low shot that Kenny gathered safely but would have struggled with had Rodallega touched it en route – he was prevented from doing so by Perone who seemed to give him a fair old shove past the ball. Rodallega didn’t complain and the referee showed no interest so presumably it was legal enough.

Warnock removed Tommy Smith, steady but not threatening enough, for young Bruno Andrade with ten minutes to go and he looked lively. Andrade quickly took his full back to the byline and delivered an excellent, dangerous cross through the area where sadly no QPR attackers had thought to move in for a tap in. That came after Shaun Derry had charged into the area and had the ball flicked off his toe by Al Habsi and out for a corner which referee Michael Oliver did very well to give under heavy appeals for a penalty which it definitely wasn’t.

Wigan: Al Habsi 8, Boyce 6, Caldwell 6, Lopez 6, Figueroa 6, Diame 8, Watson 7, Moses 7 (McArthur 69, 6), Rodallega 8, Gomez 7 (Stam 85, -), Di Santo 6 (Sammon 69, 6)

Subs Not Used: Kirkland , McCarthy, Thomas, Jones

Booked: Lopez (foul), Caldwell (foul)

Goals: Di Santo 41 (unassisted), 66 (unassisted)

QPR: Kenny 7, Gabbidon 7, Hall 5 (Harriman 61, 7), Perone 6, Connolly 6, Faurlin 6, Derry 6, Taarabt 7, Buzsaky 6 (Bothroyd 72, 7), Smith 6 (Andrade 80, -), Agyemang 4

Subs Not Used: Murphy, Helguson, Ephraim, Hewitt

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) 6 I thought we were in for a bloody long afternoon in the first 15 minutes when a series of questionable decisions went against us but he grew into the game in the final hour and did reasonably overall. Further marks off for failure to play obvious advantages on several occasions but credit for getting the late Derry penalty appeal right when another referee in his position may hav given a spot kick, a goal kick or a dive when it was corner.

QPR 0 Cardiff 1, Saturday April 17, 2010

Frustration for Taarabt, and the rest of the QPR team, grew when his corner was only partially cleared by Cardiff but as the ball dropped on the far side of the area and the attack recommenced play was stopped by referee Michael Oliver because Stephen McPhail was down on the edge of the box clutching his head. Of course as soon as the play was stopped, and the attack ended, McPhail leapt up and there was nothing wrong with him – he even had the nerve to have a go at the referee for allowing the physio on meaning he had to leave the field for three and a half seconds while Cardiff returned the ball to QPR some 100 yards away down the field. Taarabt was justifiably booked for diving in the second half, this piece of cheating, quickly creeping into the game at all levels, was equally worthy of a yellow card.

Five minutes into the second half it was Cardiff who almost broke the deadlock when Radek Cernymade a worrying return to the form that saw him dropped from the side and replaced by Carl Ikeme just after Christmas. A foul by Ramage on Bothryod as the striker threatened to run through on goal drew a deserved yellow card and set up a free kick 30 yards from goal left of centre. A routine strike from Ross McCormack flew over the wall but seemed to be posing the keeper few problems as it bounced on the edge of the six yard box.

Taarabt’s curate’s egg of an afternoon continued when he tricked two Cardiff players on his way into the area before collapsing theatrically, farcically, under meagre contact from Darcy Blake. It was the most clear and obvious yellow card referee Michael Oliver will ever hand out, although credit to the referee for not being influenced by the crowd in the most partisan corner of Loftus Road.

QPR: Cerny 6, Leigertwood 6, Ramage 7, Gorkss 6, Tosic 6, Ephraim 5 (Parker 84, -), Buzsaky 6, Faurlin 6, Taarabt 8, Priskin 5 (German 90, -), Simpson 6 (Cook 83, -)

Subs Not Used: Putnins, Vine, Hill, Oastler

Booked: Ramage (foul), Taarabt (diving)

Cardiff: Marshall 7, McNaughton 6, Blake 6, Gerrard 6, Kennedy 7, Whittingham 7, McPhail 6, Ledley 7, Burke 6 (Etuhu 67, 6),McCormack 6 (Chopra 63, 5), Bothroyd 6

Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Gyepes, Capaldi, Matthews, Wildig

Goals: Ledley 80 (assisted Kennedy)

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) 7 Pretty good overall. Couldn’t argue with the bookings, although I would suggest he was a little quick with his whistle sometimes. Several times free kicks were awarded, and on a couple of occasions subsequently brought back for a moving ball or because they were taken from the wrong place, when the players seemed quite happy to play on with an advantage in the first place. He also stopped the game with QPR on the attack in the penalty area in the first half for a head injury that turned out to be nothing at all, in fact the Cardiff player was angry that he had to go off for treatment – although I felt there was plenty of kidology from McPhail on that occasion. Very promising performance from a young referee though, look forward to seeing him again.

Preston 2 QPR 1, Sunday May 3, 2009

They looked pretty nervous about the whole situation right from the off although could well have caught us out and taken the lead in the seventh minute from a set piece. A long ball forward was aimed at Parkin and, obviously keen to assert is authority against a much larger in every sense of the word, opponent, Matt Connolly climbed over his back to win a header. It could have been a free kick to Rangers for backing in, or one to Preston for climbing, and our young referee Michael Oliver went for the latter. All attention was drawn to Parkin, Neil Mellor, Sean St Ledger and the other aerial threats in the penalty area but Preston instead knocked a long ball across to the far side of the penalty area where Billy Jones had come forward from the back unchecked and was able to meet the free kick completely unmarked at the back post and head it back across goal. Rangers, clearly surprised, muscled up and bundled it behind for a corner from which Parkin was penalised for too much physical contact on Radek Cerny.

QPR’s strong running and intricate passing in attack brought two quickfire bookings for the home side just before the half hour. First Rowan Vine was crudely chopped down by Billy Jones and then Wayne Routledge cynically hauled back by Sean St Ledger as he thrust towards the penalty area. Both were just about the most obvious bookings you could ever hope to see but that didn’t stop the home crowd venting their fury at the match officials and quickly talking them into booking Mikele Leigertwood for a nothing foul on halfway. This crowd pleasing style of refereeing would become more of an issue in the second half. Sadly, for all the pretty build up, the two free kicks won with the bookings summed up QPR’s problem – poor final delivery, lack of cutting edge in attack. The same problems we have had all season, the same problems we said we would have last summer.

St Ledger was causing problems in the penalty area again ten minutes before the break, diving rather blatantly attempting to win a spot kick but Oliver rightly showed no interest. That was from a corner, Preston had gone somewhat closer to scoring in the lead up to that – Simon Waley tried his luck from distance, enjoyed the benefit of an enormous deflection, and then watched with baited breath as the ball cleared Radek Cerny as he scrambled across and, thankfully from the Czech’s point of view, the cross bar as well.

A last ditch clearance from Gorkss denied Parkin a chance from a low cross, and Cerny came out to punch as Parkin threatened to move in and head home a second. In the ten minutes after conceding an equaliser PNE were completely dominant, flooding forwards in numbers, and with the crowd now at fever pitch our match officials started to crack under the pressure. From the moment QPR equalised Oliver’s arm only went one way, and Mr Dead on the touchline swooped back into the action with a number of joke decisions.

First QPR had to defend a free kick from wide that was given against Rowan Vine when he seemed to be sinned against, then after scrambling that out to the edge of the box Rangers thought they’d won a free kick when Delaney was clearly upended only for the pair of pillocks in charge to award a Preston throw. Later Matt Connolly was booked for berating the referee after a corner had been awarded against him – Connolly seemed to keep the ball in and the referee five yards away initially agreed before allowing himself to be overruled by our representative from the Royal Society for the Blind a good 50 yards away on the other side of the pitch with a goal net in the way. When Matt Connolly loses his temper you have to wonder about the decision you have just given.

Preston: Lonergan 6, Jones 6, St. Ledger 8, Mawene 6, Nolan 5, Whaley 7 (Nicholson 79, 6), McKenna 8, Carter 7, Sedgwick 7, Parkin 7 (Elliott 88,-), Mellor 5 (Brown 61, 6)

Subs Not Used: Neal, Chilvers

Booked: Jones (foul), St. Ledger (foul)

Goals: Parkin 37 (unassisted), St. Ledger 74 (assisted Parkin/Brown)

QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 6, Connolly 7, Gorkss 6, Delaney 6, Routledge 7, Leigertwood 5, Mahon 7 (Balanta 83, -), Ephraim 8, Agyemang 6 (German 75, 6), Vine 8

Subs Not Used: Cole, Hall, Alberti

Booked: Leigertwood (foul), Connolly (dissent)

Goals: Agyemang 57 (assisted Vine)

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) 4 In my opinion he allowed himself to be influenced by the crowd. I say this because firstly having booked to Preston players, justifiably it has to be said, the home fans screamed for a booking after every minor foul and sure enough within minutes Mikele Leigertwood was booked for a nothing tackle on halfway. Then later in the game when the home crowd were at their deafening best demanding the pursuit of a winner from their team Oliver awarded one free kick after another to the home players. The free kick on the edge of the box awarded to Parkin was a joke, as was the one awarded against Vine and the decision to then award a Preston throw after Delaney had been chopped down. I could rant about the insistence on promoting young kids too high too quickly again but I won’t. The linesman nearest the away end looked like he had plenty of experience but was absolutely awful – completely incompetent. It’s been a very long time since I saw a player flagged offside in his own half as Vine was in the first half. Poor all round really.

Stats

Oliver was promoted to the Premiership list for last season and this is his second QPR game of the new campaign already. So far this season he has shown an encouragingly low nine yellow cards in four matches (2.25 a game) and now reds. Our trip to Wigan was his first Premiership appointment of the season, and in his second he had today's opponents Aston Villa at Everton where the hosts had a fairly blatant penalty appeal turned down after Leighton Baines appeared to be fouled in the area. Penalty decisions have stalked him this season with several controversial calls in a 2-2 draw between West Ham and Leeds in the Championship - Leeds were awarded one that perhaps wasn’t and had another that definitely was turned down. West Ham meanwhile had two fairly blatant ones waved away. Having already refereed Millwall v Southampton he has now been in charge of three 2-2 draws in his first four games of the season.

Last season he showed 83 yellows (2.86 a game) and six reds in 29 matches. His most prolific game was at Blackpool where he booked five and sent two off as they beat West Brom 2-1. I watched that game and the cards were a result of West Brom losing the plot – something he did very well to keep a handle on. .

Other appointments

Premiership >>> Chris Foy gets his first Premiership appointment of the season as Norwich host Sunderland on Monday night looking to end a run of conceding penalties that now stretches to five consecutive games. Jon Moss has his first top flight game since his promotion as Wigan face Tottenham. Sian Massey, female linesman of Andy Gray sexist rant infamy, has her first Premiership appointment of the season running the line at West Brom v Fulham where she'll assist Stuart Attwell. Poor girl. The decision to appoint Peter Walton to Stoke v Man Utd looks like a disaster waiting to happen.

Championship >>> The reason Lee Probert is only on fourth official duties with us is because he's in the middle for the Friday night clash between Brighton and Leeds . Anthony Taylor, who refereed us at Wolves on Saturday, drops a level for Burnley v Southampton.

League Two >>> New Premiership referee Neil Swarbrick drops down to the bottom division to keep an eye on a local derby between Crewe and Port Vale.

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