Foy drops down a level for Burnley v QPR
Friday, 14th Jan 2011 00:04 by Clive Whittingham

After some odd, and some plainly wrong, decisions in the West Brom v Man Utd game a fortnight ago Chris Foy finds himself demoted to the Championship for our game with Burnley.

Referee Chris Foy (St Helens) Premiership official with 15 of his 18 appointments this year in the top flight. Yet to issue a red card this season.

Assistants Sian Massey (Coventry) and William Smallwood (Cheshire)

Fourth Official Rob Lewis (Shropshire)

Previously

Reading 0 QPR 0, Saturday October 25, 2008

QPR’s only booking of the match went to Daniel Parejo, seemingly for kicking the ball away after a foul although it was difficult to tell and looked harsh. The Spaniard was possibly lucky to avoid a sending off having been booked because within seconds he was theatrically collapsing in the penalty area as the ball ran out for a goal kick, Bikey was in close attendance and Parejo obviously wanted to buy a penalty from him but Foy was in an excellent position to judge the amount of contact and there was none. Parejo was withdrawn a short time after that for Balanta who had little time to do anything other than win a time wasting free kick in injury time.

Reading: Hahnemann 6, Rosenior 6, Bikey 5, Ingimarsson 7, Armstrong 6, Kebe 7 (Long 80, -), Gunnarsson 6 (Harper 73, 6), Karacan 6 (Cisse 73, 6), Stephen Hunt 6, Noel Hunt 6, Doyle 6

Subs Not Used: Andersen, Kelly

Booked: Rosenior (foul)

QPR: Cerny 8, Leigertwood 8, Stewart 8, Hall 7, Connolly 7, Buzsaky 6, Mahon 7, Rowlands 7, Cook 5, Di Carmine 5 (Blackstock 60, 7), Parejo 6 (Balanta 86, -)

Subs Not Used: Delaney, Tommasi, Cole

Booked: Parejo (kicking the ball away)

Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside) 7 Pretty decent overall. One or two decisions I would question and I think Reading probably should have had a penalty for the Mahon handball although that was more a linesman’s call than Foy’s – his past record shows that if there’s a penalty to be given he normally gives it so we were fortunate there. Other than that hard to argue with much he did.

Watford 2 QPR 4, Saturday December 29, 2008

Youngster Angelo Balanta had made a nervy start to his full QPR debut, but he showed the touch and confidence of a seasoned professional in the 13th minute when he cut in from the left wing onto his right foot and curled a beautiful 30 yard pass into the path of Dexter Blackstock running into the area. The ball cut between Matt Jackson and Jordan Stewart perfectly and when the latter tried to recover the situation with a robust body check on Blackstock there was only one decision the referee could make and Chris Foy rightly pointed straight to the spot.

The last time Rangers had a penalty Martin Rowlands almost uprooted the post at Charlton Athletic but he made no mistake this time, firing an equally powerful shot into the corner with Lee diving the wrong way.

Plenty of QPR eyes will have been on Watford right back Lloyd Doyley who has been strongly linked with a move to W12 this transfer window. Boothroyd said last week that we couldn't afford him, not sure he's even convincing himself with that one, but he looked decent enough to me. Certainly better than anything we have in that position at the moment. He's got a handy long throw to go with his solid defence and overlapping runs. Not the greatest crosser of the ball though.

He was involved in one of the more bizarre moments I've seen this season midway through the first half. QPR cleared yet another Watford free kick down the field and Doyley, left back as the last man, was left to turn and chase as the ball bounced over the halfway line. He then inexplicably picked the ball up, presumably thinking he'd heard a whistle from the referee. After a stunned moment of silence where players, officials and supporters wondered what the hell was going on Foy whistled and awarded QPR a free kick, Doyley then realised that Bolder and Blackstock were keen to get a quick free kick taken that would have left QPR with three players steaming through on goal unchecked so he threw the ball away and picked up a booking for his troubles.

It was important having gone 3-0 up to see that through until half time. With QPR developing a taste this season for conceding goals in injury time there were a few groans and grumbles when Foy added four minutes onto the end of the first period - presumably for the treatment required by Ainsworth and by Watford keeper Richard Lee who had earlier rolled around theatrically trying to get Dexter Blackstock booked after they'd both challenged for a through ball - needless to say he was soon up on his feet and fine again.

Watford: Lee 5, Doyley 6 (O'Toole 79, -), DeMerit 4, Jackson 3 (Shittu 46, 7), Stewart 5, Smith 6, Williamson 6, Francis 6, McAnuff 6, Darius Henderson 6, Ellington 5 (King 68, 6)

Subs Not Used: Mariappa, Ainsworth

Booked: Doyley (throwing the ball away), Smith (foul)

Goals: Camp og 52, Shittu 84 (assisted Henderson)

QPR: Camp 7, Barker 7, Rehman 7, Stewart 8, Malcolm 7, Bolder 7, Rowlands 9, Ainsworth 6 (Vine 64, 6), Balanta 6 (Buzsaky 73, 7), Nygaard 6 (Walton 90, -), Blackstock 6

Subs Not Used: Cole, Moore

Booked: Nygaard (foul), Barker (foul)

Goals: Rowlands 13 pen, Stewart 29 (assisted Rowlands), Rowlands 40 (assisted Balanta), Buzsaky 80 (assisted Rowlands)

Referee - Chris Foy (St Helens) 7 - Refereed the game calmly and sensibly, though a couple of the cards were harsh and once or twice he awarded Watford soft free kicks but overall he allowed the game to flow as best he could and got the big decisions right. Pretty decent all in all.

QPR 0 Wolves 1, Saturday December 16, 2006

QPR: Royce 8, Bignot 5, Rehman 6, Mancienne 8, Milanese 8, Rowlands 5, Smith 4, Bircham 6 (Furlong 66, 4), Gallen 4, Ray Jones 5, Blackstock 4.

Subs Not Used: Cole, Ward, Baidoo, Bailey.

Wolverhampton: Murray 8, Little 7, Breen 7, Craddock 7, McNamara 7,Kightly 8, Olofinjana 7, Potter 8, McIndoe 8, Bothroyd 7,Craig Davies 7 (Clarke 76, 6).

Subs Not Used: Oakes, Edwards, Johnson, Ricketts.

Booked: Breen, Bothroyd.

Goals: Kightly 49.

Referee: C Foy (Merseyside) 5 - Overly fussy over the placing of free kicks and throw ins, never played the advantage rule, failed to clamp down on time wasting. All in all and irritating official.

Prior to that Foy was the man in the middle for the memorable 1-0 home win against Swindon at the end of the 2003/04 promotion season that kept Rangers on course for the Championship. Two years previously he’d been in charge of a 0-0 West London derby between the R’s and Brentford at Loftus Road. In our relegation season from this division, 2000/01, he was in the middle for a 1-1 draw at Sheff Utd when that rare and beautiful thing – a Sammy Koejoe goal – occurred. A 2-1 QPR win at home to Walsall, 3-1 win at Portsmouth (both in 1999/00) and 1-0 loss at Grimsby a year earlier complete a QPR profile that overall boasts four Rangers wins, four draws and just two defeats.

Stats

Foy is a rarity as a Premiership referee who has yet to send a player off this season – he has shown 43 yellows (2.38 a game) in 18 matches. He was most recently in charge of West Brom v Man Utd on New Year’s Day where he failed to award a blatant penalty for each side, which may explain why he finds himself slumming it down with us this Saturday. Last season he refereed 36 games, again mostly in the Premiership, showing 107 yellows (2.972 a game) and five reds. That included five Burnley games – a 3-1 home win against Sunderland, 3-2 defeat against Blackburn, 5-3 defeat at West Ham, 1-1 draw with Bolton and 3-1 set back at Arsenal. He awarded Burnley a penalty in the Sunderland game but gave West Ham two and sent off Steven Caldwell at Upton Park.