Change of officials for Swindon cup tie - referee
Monday, 26th Aug 2013 23:24 by Clive Whittingham

We’ve been informed by the club that the referee for Tuesday night’s cup tie with Swindon has changed from David Phillips to Phil Gibbs.

Referee >>> Phil Gibbs (West Midlands)

Assistants >>> Neil Hair (Cambridgeshire) and Paul Harris (Kent)

Fourth Official >>> Ian Crouch (Kent)

Previously

Doncaster 0 QPR 1, Saturday March 19, 2011, Championship

Doncaster had a chance to trouble Rangers with a set piece of their own just before the half hour when Fitz Hall was harshly penalised for a foul on Hayter 30 yards from goal by our referee Phil Gibbs, whose picky style of officiating means you can pick him out as a school teacher from two hundred yards away. The resulting set piece went wrong as they tried to set up Gillett for a shot — he ended up having to cross the ball instead after a poor lay off to him and QPR cleared the ball with ease.

The tempo of the game, pedestrian to this point, increased briefly around the half hour mark as the teams exchanged half chances at the end of swift counter attacks. First Tommy Smith played Wayne Routledge in and he reached the byline before cutting the ball back to Hogan Ephraim who fired wide. Then Stock tried his luck with a curling effort from the edge of the area that beat Paddy Kenny but also flew past the post — the ball rebounded off the back stanchion and into the net to give the appearance of a goal for those fans sitting in the side stand to the right of the away end which caused much merriment among the travelling QPR fans. Gibbs gave a corner for that shot which Doncaster played out to Stock on the edge of the area once more but Paul Scholes, one the greatest exponents of that move, can rest easily tonight as the Welshman’s first time shot flew yards wide.

Doncaster finished the half the stronger of the two teams, crafting out a couple of half chances and seeing a penalty appeal turned down. That incident came ten minutes before the break when Moussa broke into the area and then flung himself to the floor under no contact whatsoever. I was embarrassed for him, but referee Gibbs decided against booking him for what was a textbook example of simulation. He did award Doncaster an attacking set piece six minutes before the break when Sam Hird ran into Faurlin, who could do nothing to get out of the way, on the edge of the area. The resulting free kick from Stock hit Heidar Helguson, the middle brick in the wall, square in the face and he belatedly collapsed to the floor requiring treatment having initially stayed on his feet while Doncaster attacked around him.

Another weak free kick appeal on the edge of the box, from Coppinger this time, was waved away although with the sheer amount of questionable refereeing decisions going Rover’s way at this stage you could hardly blame their players from trying it on. Routledge subsequently deflected the ball behind for a corner that was met powerfully in the air by Moussa but Kenny was equal to the effort with a fine save — his first of the game.

The decisions kept going against the visitors with increasing frequency thereafter. Helguson received a lecture after being penalised on halfway, although it seemed that he had been the one fouled on that occasion, then when a Faurlin corner was returned into the area Doncaster were given one of those mysterious free kicks referees often award in crowded penalty areas for an unidentifiable pushing offence. When Rangers were finally given a free kick of their own three minutes before the hour mark it was bundled behind for a corner by George Friend only for Mr Gibbs to award a goal kick. Look elsewhere this weekend for fine examples of refereeing competency.

O’Driscoll followed Warnock’s lead in turning to his bench for other options shortly after that, and he replaced the anonymous John Oster with young Ryan Mason to try and find a way back into the game, then swapping Jason Euell for James Hayter a short time later. Mason almost scored with his first touch within a minute of coming on, but his weak header went wide of the target. The referee then took this opportunity to warn Paddy Kenny about time wasting, which seemed a little bit premature as there hadn’t been any noticeable time wasting to that point, and Kenny hadn’t even been thrown a ball to restart the game with anyway. The Irish keeper annoyed the home fans thereafter by always taking goal kicks from the opposite side to where they went out, eating up seconds as he went, and if ever there was a simple rule change that could cut out a time wasting opportunity in one fell swoop that is certainly it.

Despite five substitutes being made, a goal being scored, a couple of injuries being treated and Paddy Kenny being repeatedly warned for time wasting the referee only added three minutes on to the end of the contest which seemed, considering four minutes seems to be par for the course these days, a little stingy. Mind you, having advertised three Mr Gibbs then played four anyway during which time QPR had to defend a couple of high balls into their own box which they did wll — with Fitz Hall particularly dominant in the air late in the game.

Doncaster: Woods 6, Hird 6, Martis 6, Friend 6, Mills 6, Coppinger 7, Oster 5 (Mason 67, 6), Stock 7, Gillett 6 (Dumbuya 84, -), Moussa 5, Hayter 6 (Euell 74, 6)

Subs Not Used: Sullivan, Wilson, Shiels, Kilgallon

QPR: Kenny 7, Orr 6, Gorkss 6, Hall 7, Hill 6, Derry 7, Faurlin 6, Ephraim 6 (Buzsaky 62, 6), Smith 7, Routledge 6, Helguson 6 (Hulse 80, -)

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Agyemang, Moen, Chimbonda, Shittu

Booked: Orr (foul)

Goals: Ephraim 47 (assisted Routledge)

Referee: Phil Gibbs (West Midlands) 5 Mr Gibbs is a schoolteacher, and can’t you just tell that in his refereeing style? He was picky throughout this game, and penalised QPR 15 times to Doncaster’s ten which was far from a fair reflection of the game and the challenges made. Bradley Orr’s yellow card was justified, but why was there no yellow for Moussa’s obvious dive in the penalty area? Far too often he was guilty of giving a home town decision when he clearly wasn’t sure what had happened.

QPR 1 Middlesbrough 5, Saturday December 5, 2009, Championship

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

This is Gibbs’ first match of the 2013/14 season. Last term he booked 95 and sent three off in 39 appointments (2.43 bookings a game). That included 11 Championship games and the League One play-off semi-final between Sheffield United and Yeovil in Somerset. It also included Swindon’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth in League One in January where three yellow cards were shown. His biggest haul, by some considerable distance in an otherwise lenient season, was seven yellows at Cardiff v Palace on Boxing Day.

In 2011/12 he showed 117 yellows and four reds in 41 games (2.85 yellows a match). His biggest haul in a single match was eight yellows in Brighton’s 2-2 Championship draw at home to Blackpool. He refereed two big Swindon home wins that season in League Two — 4-0 against Barnet and 4-1 against Hartlepool.

Other Listings

League Cup >>> Gavin Ward has Premier League Hull’s trip to League One leaders Leyton Orient; Stuart Attwell has the televised (why?) clash between Liverpool and Notts County; Andy D’Urso has West Brom v Newport County.

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