Woolmer back for Wolves clash - referee Thursday, 21st Jan 2016 22:43 by Clive Whittingham Northants official Andy Woolmer is back in charge of QPR for the first time since 2014 on Saturday as Wolves are in town. Referee >>> Andy Woolmer (Northamptonshire) twelfth season on the league list, last at Loftus Road for a 3-0 win against Bournemouth a couple of seasons ago. Assistants >>> John Busby (Oxfordshire) and Michael Webb (Surrey) Fourth Official >>> Mark Haywood (West Yorkshire) PreviouslyQPR 3 Bournemouth 0, Tuesday December 3, 2013, Championship QPR continued to press well without much success before the game burst into life with the first of two major flashpoints of the first half that called referee Andy Woolmer into action. First, Joey Barton, in typical style, aerially flew through Harry Arter, who is Scott Parker’s brother-in-law out of interest, with his elbows high but won the ball. Foul, probably. Arter wasn’t best pleased though and Barton’s chirpiness in his ear brought about a clear stamp down the shins on Barton from the Bournemouth man. Woolmer must have been eyeing up the pies in the South Africa Road stand as he missed the act of clear violence (OK, maybe a little strong) despite being six feet away. The home crowd called for a red card. Woolmer gave Arter a stern telling off. Things were about to get worse. Strap yourselves in, comrades. Perhaps Redknapp and QPR fans should thank Arter and Woolmer though because thanks to one’s petulance and the other’s incompetence, Loftus Road was now rocking under the lights. The Super Hoops responded too and upped their intensity. Enthusiastically chasing a through ball, Austin looked favourite to burst through last-man Tommy Elphick, who had a tug on his shirt before scooping the ball back with his hand when hitting the deck. Crystal clear to everyone in the stadium. Clear as mud to the linesman and referee. Elphick was the last man. Deliberate hand ball. Sending off. Simple. After a good two minutes of deliberation between the ref and his lino, they decided that the free-kick was justice enough for the most obvious professional foul you’ll see all season. Even the Bournemouth players were laughing at the farcical goings on. Woolmer blew his final whistle, with an air of thankfulness that QPR’s ruthless finishing had taken the spotlight off his bad day at the office, and Rangers went joint-top of the league. QPR: Green 7, Simpson 7, Dunne 7, Hill 7, Assou-Ekotto 7; Barton 7, O’Neill 6 (Traore 81, 6) Carroll 5, Hoilett 7 (Phillips 73, 7); Austin 7, Johnson 8 (Jenas 73, 6). Subs not used: Murphy, Young, Henry, Krancjar. Goals: Austin 27 (assisted Johnson), Hoilett 54 (assisted Simpson), Phillips 77 (unassisted) Bookings: Barton 34 (foul) Bournemouth: Camp 6, Francis 5, Cook 6, Elphick 5, Daniels 5; MacDonald 6 (Grabban 61, 6), Ritchie 5 (Fraser 68, 6) Arter 5, Surman 6, Pugh 7; Pitman 6 (Rantie 61, 5). Subs not used: Harte, Thomas, Flahavan, O’Kane. Bookings: MacDonald 51 (foul) Referee — Andy Woolmer (Northants) 4 Blimey, what a stinker. Allowed the game to flow OK, but bottled both the big red card decisions. No-one wants to see players sent off but when an incident happens like the Elphick one, there is just simply no excuse. He cheated and he got away with it.
Sheffield United 0 QPR 3, Saturday August 14, 2010, Championship Be it through a rare run of good luck, or Neil Warnock’s intimidating presence on the touchline, QPR suddenly seem to be getting the run of the refereeing decisions. Most things went the R’s way on Saturday following Barnsley’s justified complaints at Loftus Road last weekend, and Rangers were especially fortunate to be allowed to run through and score the opening goal of the game after 11 minutes. A long ball (who would have thought it?) straight down the middle of the QPR side caught Gorkss the wrong side of Evans and Hall the wrong side of Ward. It was Gorkss and Evans who clashed first, the Latvian appearing to wrestle his Welsh counterpart to the ground as the ball bounced between them. Referee Andy Woolmer saw nothing wrong with that, or the subsequent cumbersome hack from Hall that sent Ward sprawling in the penalty area. The first one was a clear foul, the second one was debatable, United had good cause to feel hard done by as Rangers broke down the field. From the moment QPR retook possession though the move was swift, attractive and incisive. QPR made life rather difficult for themselves at the end of the half. They survived a big penalty appeal, a free kick right on the edge of the area, and a presentable chance for Cresswell in the last five minutes before half time. First Kenny was in flying form to tip Cresswell’s header over the bar after a nice cross from the right by Montgomery — either side of him and it probably would have been a goal. Then Ched Evans got in behind Clint Hill during a fractured piece of play and just as he was about to cross clearly had his legs taken away in the penalty area by the retreating QPR full back. Hill sat on the turf and seemed to fully expect the spot kick to be awarded but referee Woolmer gave nothing, looking for guidance from linesman Amy Fearn who signalled a corner. QPR and Mrs Fearn have history of course, decisions given by the only female to ever referee a Football League game incensed Luton manager Mike Newell back in 2006. Woolmer added almost six minutes on at the end of the game, seemingly for no other reason than to prolong the home side’s suffering, but it was played out without incident and QPR’s players were left to celebrate in front of the away end. Meanwhile in the main stand, news filtered through immediately that Blackwell had been fired. Sheffield United: Simonsen 5, Ertl 5, Morgan 4, Bartley 4, Taylor 5 (Kozluk 76, 5), Britton 6, Taylor (Kozluk 76), Ward 5, Montgomery 5, Quinn 4 (Yeates 76, 6) Cresswell 5, Evans 5 (Bogdanovic 68, 5), Subs not used: Aksalu, James, Chapell Bookings: Montgomery 14 (foul), Bartley 47 (foul) QPR: Kenny 7, Orr 7, Hall 7 (Ramage 50, 6) Gorkss 8, Hill 7, Derry 7, Faurlin 7, Taarabt 8 (Clarke 69, 6) Mackie 7, Ephraim 8 (Leigertwood 82, -) Helguson 7 Subs not used: Cerny, Connolly, German, Parker Bookings: Faurlin 45 (foul), Helguson 45 (foul), Ephraim 75 (foul) Goals: Ephraim 11 (assisted Taarabt), Mackie 20 (assisted Ephraim), Taarabt 23 (penalty won Helguson) Referee: Andy Woolmer 4 Not great. QPR definitely got the rub of the green. Personally I thought our penalty was, although Sheff Utd should certainly have had two of their own. The second you can maybe put down to the linesman as that’s where Woolmer looked for advice. Montgomery and Faurlin could both have gone on another day for bad tackles and he allowed situations to bubble up by not keeping decent control of the game. Middlesbrough 2 QPR 0, Saturday February 27, 2010, Championship QPR started the game reasonably brightly. An early handball from Kyle Naughton presented Akos Buzsaky with a chance to deliver the ball into the penalty area and win the first corner of the game which came to nothing. Rangers were then denied a penalty when Lee Cook went to ground in the penalty area after a decent move down the left but to be fair it looked like he had made a lot of it and with referee Andy Woolmer right on the spot to emphatically wave the appeals away he was probably lucky not to receive a yellow card. Boro had a very good looking appeal for a penalty turned down in the twentieth minute. Kaspars Gorkss allowed a through ball to bounce causing a problem for Damion Stewart who was harshly penalised for a foul on Killen wide on the QPR right. As Gary O’Neil prepared to take the free kick I noticed just how ridiculously unmarked Jeremie Aliadiere was bang in the middle of the goal. My attention was drawn to him as the ball came over so I missed the ball’s point of contact with Kaspars Gorkss at the near post but the home crowd and players appealed as one for handball and the general consensus at the back of the away end was that it was a stick on penalty. Woolmer awarded a corner. The game swung on two penalty decisions in the final five minutes of the first half. Both were given, the first for a foul by Ramage on Alliadiere as he went to ground and the Boro winger touched the ball past him, the second for a ridiculously clumsy challenge from Gorkss on Lita after getting the wrong side of him in the penalty area. Gorkss is a player I like and rate, Ramage is a player I have a lot of time for because of his work ethic and attitude, but I’m afraid both of them were dire on Saturday and totally at fault for the goal. Ramage was foolish to go to ground, and although the replays are slightly kinder to him than the live action was on the day, it still looks like a blatant spot kick. Gorkss had his worst game for the club since the Sheff Utd 3-0 away game in my opinion — centre halves are taught in the womb not allow the ball to bounce and yet with a pacy handful like Leroy Lita buzzing around like an angry wasp Gorkss allowed the ball to hit the ground time and time and time and time again. It was like he was a centre forward pressed into action at the heart of the defence for the first time. Once again for the penalty a ball bounced in behind him, Lita stuck himself between Gorkss and the ball and waited for contact then flung himelf to the floor when he felt it. The linesman flagged for the foul, but referee Woolmer was way ahead of him and had already pointed to the spot and produced a yellow card. QPR could have few complaints — punished for incompetence and crass stupidity in equal measure. Both spot kicks were taken by Scottish midfielder Barry Robson, both were drilled solidly down the middle, the only difference was Ikeme fell weakly off to his left for the first, and then weakly off to his right for the second. Middlesbrough: Coyne 7, Naughton 6, Wheater 7, McManus 6, Pogatetz 6 (Taylor 78, 6), Flood 6, O'Neil 6, Robson 8, Aliadiere 5 (Franks 66, 6), Lita 6 (Arca 83, -), Killen 6 Subs Not Used: Jones, Hoyte, Miller, Grounds Booked: Killen (foul) Goals: Robson 39 (penalty), 45 (penalty) QPR: Ikeme 6, Ramage 4, Stewart 5, Gorkss 4, Hill 4 (Borrowdale 53, 4),Cook 6, Leigertwood 7, Faurlin 6 (Taarabt 69, 6), Buzsaky 7, Simpson 6, German 5 (Bent 54, 6) Subs Not Used: Cerny, Vine, Balanta, Ephraim Booked: Gorkss (foul) Referee: Andy Woolmer (Northamptonshire) 5 Hard to argue with either penalty decision as they both looked blatant however Woolmer missed another spot kick when Gorkss apparently punched the ball clear, and should have sent Borrowdale off for denying Lita a clear run on goal with an astonishingly obvious hand ball that the referee missed altogether. Turned down an early penalty appeal from lee Cook that should have been either a penalty or a booking. QPR 2 Sheffield United 3, Tuesday January 12, 2009, FA Cup third round replay Ward then turned provider a minute later, with a pin-point cross that was stroked home by Cresswell. Rangers continued the goal a minute rate, with their next attack. Just as a large number of the 5,780 who bothered to make the trip started to stream out of the gates, Buzsaky converted a penalty following a handball given against Derek Geary. Stewart powered a header home from a Buzsaky free kick with three minutes remaining. Rangers were then denied an equaliser with the last kick of the game, as lively sub Antonio German's shot was pushed to safety by Mark Bunn. QPR: Cerny 4, Borrowdale 5, Ramage 6, Gorrks 7, Stewart 6, Buzsaky 6, Faurlin 7 (Taarabt 69, 6), Leigetwood 6, Routledge 6, Simpson 5 (German 80, 7), Agyemang 7 Subs not used: McWeeney, Hall, Connolly, Balanta, Ephraim Bookings: Gorkss (foul) Goals: Buzsaky 71 (penalty), Stewart 88 (assisted Buzsaky) Sheff Utd: Bunn, Geary (Walker 80), Morgan, Seip, Taylor,Quinn, Harper, Montgomery, Williamson (Ward 67), Evans,Cresswell (Henderson 74) Subs Not Used: Bennett, France, Stewart, Little Booked: Evans, Seip, Quinn Goals: Williamson 19, Ward 68, Cresswell 70 Referee - Andy Woolmer (Northamptonshire) 4 Fussy, melodramatic and the fact he missed a blatant penalty for Sheffield in the first half then gave us a highly debatable one, gives him a four when he really should be nursing a one. Awful. QPR 1 Burnley 2, Saturday, November 15, 2008, Championship Chris Eagles pushed the ball past Peter Ramage wide on the Burnley left and the QPR man lunged in with a horribly mistimed tackle that cut the former Man Utd midfielder down above the ankle and could have caused a very serious injury. It was a shocking tackle really and I think only the time it took place and the fact that Eagles made it pretty obvious that he was alright saved Ramage from a red card. There could have been few complaints if he had been sent off, in the end referee Andy Woolmer let him off with a yellow card. QPR did have a couple of chances though. Just before the hour mark a ball in behind Burnley finally caught out Clarke Carlisle who had been excellent to this point. Blackstock moved it out of his feet and set off for the penalty area. When he arrived the striker was involved in a tussle with Carlisle inside the area and crashed to earth just as he was about to pull the trigger. The Lower Loft reacted with fury as Woolmer waved away the penalty appeals and Blackstock could scarcely believe it himself. The general consensus in F Block was that it was a spot kick. Blackstock was sent tumbling in different circumstances a quarter of an hour later when he reached a loose ball on the edge of the box first, poked it past the last man and was then sent tumbling by a late trip from Duff — that looked a nailed on spot kick to me and again Woolmer waved the appeals away. A very soft decision by the referee started it — Stewart harshly punished for an almost non-existent touch on Blake. Woolmer waved away two penalty appeals presumably because he didn’t think there was enough contact or a foul, but everywhere else on the pitch he blew his whistle and gave decisions for the most meagre of touches and trips. Surely a foul is a foul wherever it occurs on the pitch? If either of the Blackstock penalty appeals had been outside the area he would have given free kicks without giving it a second thought. QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 5, Stewart 7, Hall 6, Connolly 5 (Delaney 46, 5), Ephraim 5 (Agyemang 63, 7), Rowlands 6, Tommasi 5 (Mahon 53, 6) Cook 5, Blackstock 6, Di Carmine 5 Subs Not Used: Cole, Ledesma Booked: Ramage (foul) Goals: Blackstock 14 (assisted Cook) Burnley: Jensen 7, Alexander 7, Duff 7, Carlisle 8, Jordan 7, Elliott 8, McCann 7, Gudjonsson 7, Eagles 8 (Mahon 56, 8), Blake 8 (McDonald 79, 7) Thompson 6 (Akinbiyi 84, -) Subs Not Used: Penny, Paterson Booked: Gudjonsson (foul), Jordan (foul), McDonald (foul) Goals: Blake 34, Mahon 60 Referee: Andy Woolmer 4 Should probably have sent Ramage off in the first minute and harshly booked Gudjonsson in the second half but the main talking points were the two penalty decisions. The first one I thought was but can see why he didn’t give it as it was a shoulder to shoulder tangle, the second I thought was nailed on. Having not given those he then proceeded to whistle up for every meagre bit of contact anywhere else on the pitch including in the build up to the second Burnley goal which was a very inconsistent attitude to take. Failed to clamp down on Jensen’s time wasting but did ad on five minutes for it at the end. QPR 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1, Saturday, March 10, 2007, Championship Nygaard forced a save from Turner within two minutes of coming on and then after a one two with Furlong he hit the deck under pressure from Wood and Spurr. At the time it looked a harsh decision to me but I've had a look at the replays and it was a penalty in my opinion. Martin Rowlands stepped up with some Rangers fans, yes alright me, unable to watch and slotted the ball into the bottom corner past Turner who dived the right way but couldn't get close to the ball. Referee Andy Woolmer typified a fussy and card happy display a short time later - booking Cook for play acting on the edge of the penalty area when it was neither a foul or a dive. Seven players saw yellow cards in all, several of whom could feel very aggrieved, but remarkably Glenn Whelen wasn't one of them. An afternoon of fouls, dissent and hissy fits unpunished by the official for reasons only he will know. Subs not used: Royce, Kanyuka, Smith. Goals: Rowlands (pen) 72 Bookings: Rowlands 30 (foul), Bolder 51 (foul), Cook 83 (diving) Sheffield Wednesday: Turner 9, Simek 5, Bullen 7, Wood 8, Spurr 7, Tudgay 7, Whelan 5, Watson 5 (Lunt 6), Brunt 7, MacLean 6 (Graham 80, -), Burton 6 Subs: Adamson, Gilbert, Lekaj Goals: Brunt 56 Bookings: Watson 22 (foul), Wood 41 (foul), Simek 68 (foul), Spurr 87 (foul) Referee: Andy Woolmer 4 Over fussy throughout, made Rangers take the kick off again and got steadily more pedantic from there. Seven yellow cards is a ridiculous haul for that game, especially when Whelen didn't get one despite countless fouls and dissent, and Wood didn't get a second one for the penalty incident. Carding Cook for diving was a joke decision - there are occasions when players go to ground and it's neither a dive nor a foul you know. Apart from the Loftus Road replay last season Woolmer had Sheff Utd for a 1-0 win at Leicester in 2007 and a 2-2 draw at Plymouth in 2009.
StatsWoolmer has been in charge of 23 games this season, and has shown 72 yellows and two reds in that time. Only six of them have been in the Championship, during which he has shown 13 yellows and no reds. Last season he showed 107 yellows and a red in 35 games. Other listingsChampionship >>> The Monday night top of the table clash between Burnley and Derby gets the Premier League's top referee Michael Oliver. League One >>> Trevor Kettle is ruining Sheff Utd v Swindon this week. League Two >>> Gavin Ward likewise at Northampton v Morecambe. Neil Swarbrick drops all the way down to Portsmouth v Oxford. Stuart Attwell has Yeovil v Crawley. Tweet @loftforwords Pictures — Action Images Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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