Gibbs in charge of Doncaster trip
Thursday, 17th Mar 2011 22:09 by Clive Whittingham

Phil Gibbs is the referee for our trip to Doncaster this Saturday and it’s fair to say QPR will be hoping for better results than they achieved with him last season.

Referee >>> Phil Gibbs (West Midlands), two QPR appointments so far in his career, both ending in defeat for the R’s

Assistants >>> Mark Duncan (Cheshire) and Colin Harwood (Manchester)

Fourth Official >>> Nigel Murphy (Nottinghamshire)

Previously

QPR 1 Middlesbrough 5, Saturday December 5, 2009

There was also a change to the advertised refereeing appointment with Keith Hill replaced by Phil Gibbs – his second QPR appointment of the season following the 1-0 defeat at Bristol City in August.

Whether that would have worked or not we certainly missed Stewart’s pace against Lita who collapsed theatrically under challenge from Fitz Hall in the area midway through the first half when a more realistic fall would probably have yielded a penalty. Hall got away with one of those against Leicester, conceded a penalty against Palace, and still insists on putting his arms all over opponents in the penalty box. The incident led to some widespread abuse for Lita from the home crowd but as it had done with Andy Cole two seasons ago that only served to wind him up and by the end of the second half he was almost unplayable.

The game was effectively ended as a contest two minutes after half time and yet again it was a defensive nightmare from a set piece that did all the damage. Leigertwood’s costly slip on halfway instigated the corner that O’Neil took and St Ledger headed goalwards from six yards out only to see it blocked away by the raised hand of Ben Watson. The referee was too quick with his whistle and awarded the penalty before Wheater smashed in the loose ball (Wheater totally unmarked once again it must be said) but it mattered little as Lita smashed the spot kick into the net down the middle and then marked on an ill-advised run down the touchline mocking the QPR fans who’d abused him so roundly in the first half – a celebration which earned him a yellow card.

There was a chance to come back into the game again when Jones went walkabouts under a high cross from the left but Routledge tried to play the ball back across the face of goal instead of shooting himself with the goal gaping and nobody had gambled enough to get on the end of it. QPR maybe could have had a penalty fifteen minutes from time as Pogatetz took a wild swing at a ball in the penalty area and seemed to catch Agyemang after completely missing his intended target but the appeals were mostly from the crowd and having waved Lita’s claims away in the first half Gibbs was never going to give that one.

QPR: Cerny 4, Leigertwood 3, Hall 3, Gorkss 4, Borrowdale 6, Taarabt 5, Watson 3, Faurlin 6, Routledge 5 (Pellicori 80, -), Simpson 6 (Agyemang 52, 6), Buzsaky 4 (Vine 52, 5)

Subs Not Used: Taylor, Ramage, Stewart, Williams

Booked: Hall (foul)

Goals: Agyemang 53 (assisted Vine)

Middlesbrough: Jones 6, R Williams 7, St. Ledger 7, Wheater 8, Pogatetz 8, O'Neil 9 (Digard 79, 7), Arca 7, Yeates 8, Osbourne 7, Kitson 8,Lita 9

Subs Not Used: Coyne, Hoyte, Riggott, Emnes, McMahon, L Williams

Booked: Lita (over celebrating), O'Neil (foul)

Goals: Kitson 31 (assisted O’Neil), Lita 50 (penalty), 60 (assisted Yeates), O'Neil 75 (assisted Lita), Yeates 87 (unassisted)

Referee: Phil Gibbs (West Midlands) 6 Change of official for this one and hard to argue with much he did. Lita and Agyemang both had penalty appeals waved away that may have been given on another day but at least he was consistent with not awarding either. The penalty he did give was blatant but he should have allowed play to continue with an advantage so Wheater’s goal would have counted. Having watched the replay whether Lita did too much wrong in his celebration is open to debate – QPR fans cannot abuse the guy for an hour and then moan when he gives a bit back after scoring.

Bristol City 1 QPR 0, Tuesday August 18, 2009

Things seemed to pick up for the visitors from about the half hour mark, starting strangely enough with a booking for the new boy Faurlin. He had passed the ball very nicely when given time to do so but had frequently been bypassed by the pace and physicality of those around him. He dished a bit of his own out though when he lost out in one tackle and then rashly dived straight into another on Elliott that received an immediate and deserved booking.

There was no card for Cole Skuse a moment later though when he crudely interrupted a typical Adel Taarabt run right on the edge of the Bristol City penalty area. Whether Skuse was struggling with an injury at the time I’m not sure but he was replaced a short time later by Liam Fontaine as Gary Johnson was forced into a first half change. In the meantime Akos Buzsaky hit the wall with a free kick, and then fired a foot or so over the bar when Rangers worked the ball back to him in the same position.

The frustration was too much for Buzsaky and Stewart, the former was rightly booked for a crude tackle on Maynard that another referee may have shown red for. The latter was also booked although many officials would not even have awarded a free kick for his foul on Clarkson.

Less than sixty seconds later Buzsaky raced to the edge of the area before shifting the ball to his right for Routledge who attempted to drill a ball low past Gerken in the City goal as he had done at Exeter a week earlier but the keeper made a smart save down by his near post. Routledge was probably the most impressive Rangers player on the night, tormenting McAllister and forcing a yellow card for the City full back later in the second half after cruelly teasing him once too often.

Bristol City: Gerken 7, Skuse 6 (Fontaine 37, 7), McCombe 6, Nyatanga 7, Orr 7, Hartley 7, Elliott 6, Clarkson 7, McAllister 5 (Velicka 64, -) (Johnson 75, 7), Haynes 6, Maynard 8

Subs Not Used: Basso, Akinde, Sproule, Brian Wilson.

Booked: McAllister (foul), Nyatanga (foul), Hartley (time wasting)

Goals: Maynard 78 (assisted Clarkson)

QPR: Cerny 7, Ramage 6, Hall 7, Stewart 7, Borrowdale 6, Routledge 8, Leigertwood 6, Faurlin 6 (Helguson 84, -), Buzsaky 6, Taarabt 7 (Vine 66, 5), Agyemang 5 (Pellicori 66, 6)

Subs Not Used: Heaton, Mahon, Gorkss, Connolly

Booked: Faurlin (foul), Buzsaky (foul), Stewart (foul)

Referee: Phil Gibbs (West Midlands) 6 No argument with any of the bookings, however there were some strange decisions at times and the linesman in front of the away end was an absolute joke. Bought rather too many dives from Taarabt and Haynes to be awarded a higher mark than six.

Stats

So far this season Gibbs has shown a respectable 75 yellows and three reds in 27 games – an average of 2.77 bookings a match. Five of those matches have been in the Championship where he has shown nine yellows and no reds. He awarded Swansea a late equalising penalty at Barnsley at the end of January. The most cards he has shown in a single match this season is six – Tranmere v Charlton – but overall he has shown two cards or fewer in a game on ten occasions. Last season he showed 121 yellows and four reds in 36 games (3.36 bookings a game)

Other Listings

Championship >>> A Yorkshire derby between Sheffield United and Leeds, who both have plenty to play for, needs a strong referee. Why therefore the league have selected Mike Jones, the Premiership official who got so many decisions wrong in last weekend’s Stoke v West Ham FA Cup tie it was difficult to keep count of them all, is beyond me.

League One >>> Gavin Ward has Exeter v Yeovil.

Tuesday Trevor Kettle has Orient v Dagenham.

Photo: Action Images

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