Those hoping for some refereeing respite for Monday night’s game with Derby after the farce at Barnsley on Tuesday are set to be disappointed.
Referee >>> Darren Deadman (Cheshunt) refereed our game only home defeat of this season against Watford in December.
Assistants >>> Gary Evetts (Hertfordshire) and Mark Scholes (Buckinghamshire)
Fourth Official >>> Phil Crossley (Kent), experienced Football League official refereeing in League Two on Saturday.
We could talk about at least one penalty QPR should have had, or the fact that Watford’s second and third goals could feature as pictorial examples in the rules of the game next to the word ‘offside’, but these would be Steve Cotterill like excuses designed to paper over the cracks of what was a sub standard performance from QPR, and an above par showing from Watford.
A minute later Mackie was involved again, driving in down the right with a direct run at the heart of the Watford defence. After reaching the edge of the area he played a one two with Faurlin, the second part of which was majestic from the Argentinean and almost sent Mackie through on goal. As the ball skipped up off the turf Mackie improvised and headed the ball down to Helguson who controlled in the area and after being afforded time to turn sent a snap shot goalwards that Loach palmed over the bar. Either side of him and it was in, but Rangers had to settle for a corner whichClint Hill attacked and looked set to lodge a decent effort on goal only for John Eustace to reach up and palm the ball away from him with his left hand. The QPR players appealed as one for the penalty, which it obviously was, but referee Darren Deadman showed little emotion in waving the appeals away. This would not turn out to be the finest evening for Deadman and his team of officials who, live on television, showed clearly just what abysmal standards of officiating we have to put up with below the Premiership.
QPR responded with another penalty claim as Helguson collapsed optimistically under minimal contact by Andrew Taylor as Smith lofted a high cross into the area. That was never going to be awarded as a spot kick and QPR seemed too pre-occupied with both the referee and showing off in front of the cameras.
Within four minutes it was two nil, and while Rangers had only themselves to blame for the first they could justifiably point accusing fingers at the officials on this occasion. A free kick, half cleared, was stuck in behind the QPR defence to Graham who looked offside at the time and subsequently turned out to be the best part of three yards off on the television replays. Kenny rescued the situation initially with another leg save in a one on one situation but the ball was immediately returned to the area by Mutch following a throw in and when Martin Taylor climbed but missed the ball Kenny was helpless as it sailed into the far corner of the net unchallenged. A failure in concentration certainly, but it should have been a free kick the other way before the situation had ever occurred.
With around eight minutes remaining the half Buckley picked up the first yellow card for a canny bodycheck on Clint Hill as Rangers attempted to construct a rare move on the edge of the area. Smith and Hill’s neat exchange of passes drew the free kick which Taarabt smacked over the wall and past the motionless goalkeeper but half a foot wide of the top corner as well. Loach tested the referee’s patience with some flagrant time wasting, a theme of the remaining hour of the game, but in truth even by this stage that appeared an unnecessary measure with Watford well in control and destined to win however long the game went on for.
What a cruel mistress time can be. That woman you had an affair with at work only to find she’s not that interested after all once you’ve left your wife. Three minutes QPR were permitted before the final nail was hammered in by a Teeside lad gleefully clutching a hammer and cackling into the night sky against the backdrop of the floodlights. Danny Graham was offside as McGinn played him through by winning a sliding tackle as Rangers dallied once more, but then the offside law had been treated more as a guideline than an actual rule all night and he was waved on in the name of laziness and incompetence and calmly slotted beneath Paddy Kenny to kill the game off.
“Was that offside?” Text messages flooded into LoftforWords Towers from the poor sods sinking deeper into a frozen depression in W12. Does anybody really know what offside is anymore? Apparently not. Graham was the definition of offside, but by the close of play an angle had been found by the television director where if the play was stopped at just the right moment he was only two yards off, and his foreskin may have been on, and we’re meant to give the benefit of the doubt to the attacker anyway so who’s arguing? Not me funnily enough, because despite the illegitimacy of it all it was thoroughly deserved. Graham, and Watford, were superb. Offside, but superb.
Referee Darren Deadman was a man let down by his assistants. Two marks against Watford’s name in his notebook that, had the lines not been run by representatives from the Royal Society for the Blind on an equal opportunities venture, should not have been there. Keen not to miss out, he quickly donned his bathers and leapt into the pool of farcical incompetence himself.
Two minutes after the third goal Heidar Helguson was hacked to the ground by a tackle from behind as he received the ball to feet. Play was waved on, seemingly just for the hell of it. Watford strung two passes together and Danny Graham was then crunched in identical circumstances by Matthew Connnolly who won the ball, but in a manner not permitted since the late 1980s. This time a free kick was awarded. And Kyle Walker was yellow carded. Why? Who can say? Maybe Walker had picked up Rob Hulse’s stomach bug and was looking a little peaky. Excuses for booking a black right full back for an offence committed by a very white centre half are, I’m afraid, few and far between.
Deadman has the name, appearance and mannerisms of an undertaker, and it was nice that he produced the standard Championship refereeing display live on terrestrial television for the nation to see tonight. If you’re one of those people who says they support Liverpool while sitting at home watching their games on television, and then feels the need to ring 606 to hence forth about how Roy Hodgson has had quite enough time with the mess he inherited and should be replaced by Kenny Dalglish, oh and by the way the referee was rubbish as well, then please take note of tonight. This wasn’t even a particularly noteworthy performance from the officials and yet they awarded two goals that should have been disallowed and failed to spot one blatant penalty. This is Championship refereeing my friends, brain activity scans of these officials could actually produce enough evidence to switch off their life support machines – if only the useless fuckers were attached to them.
Shaun Derry knew all this and his frustration boiled over just after the hour when he had a minor spat with John Eustace – the Watford captain’s Graham Alexander like tendency to referee the game, get away with repeat offending, and play handball in his own penalty area with no comeback from the officials was too much for QPR’s overworked central midfielder to stand and the pair had a little bump and barge like a pair of posh bankers arguing over a spilt pint of Peroni. QPR were awarded a free kick as a result, and then got another one straight away when it was launched forward towards Helguson who caught Mariappa flying out of his defensive position and milked him for a foul. Tommy Smith took the kick with Taarabt now withdrawn, and curled it right across the face of goal and wide from just outside the area.
Helguson was then taken off and replaced by Rob Hulse who introduced himself to the game first by inadvertently causing a fierce looking black eye to McGinn with a stray arm, and then picking up a yellow card for a similar challenge on Adrian Mariappa. Neither looked like serious intentional fouls to me, but the unfortunate injury caused by the first challenge clearly played on the referee’s mind in the second instance.
QPR: Kenny 7, Walker 6, Gorkss 4, Connolly 5, Hill 6, Derry 5, Faurlin 4 (Orr 59, 6), Mackie 6, Taarabt 4 (Clarke 59, 5), Smith 6, Helguson 5 (Hulse 70, 6)
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Hall, Rowlands, Ephraim
Booked: Walker (mistaken identity), Hulse (elbowing)
Goals: Smith 89 (assisted Mackie)
Watford: Loach 8, Doyley 7, Mariappa 6, M Taylor 7, A Taylor 7, Buckley 7 (Deeney 80, -), Eustace 7, McGinn 7 (Sordell 75, 6), Cowie 7, Mutch 8, Graham 9
Subs Not Used: Gilmartin, Hodson, Jenkins, Bennett, Massey
Booked: Buckley (foul), Andrew Taylor (foul)
Goals: Graham 26 (assisted A Taylor), Mutch 30 (unassisted), Graham 48 (assisted McGinn)
Referee: Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire) 3 I have cringed in recent weeks listening to Portsmouth manager Steve Cotterill and Reading boss Brian McDermott demeaning one refereeing performance after another when in truth the officials have done little wrong in the game. While I cannot possibly give Deadman any kind of positive remark for this often ridiculous performance that included wild inconsistencies, two goals incorrectly allowed and at least one obvious penalty missed, it is important to point out that QPR lost because Watford were much better than them, not because the referee was a knob.
QPR 0 Newcastle 1, Sunday May 2, 2010
Within 20 seconds of the restart – disaster struck. Shola Ameobi beat Peter Ramage to a low cross on the edge of the box and flicked it round the defender before hitting the deck under heavy contact. On first sight I thought Ramage had taken the ball but the immediate whistle from the referee and the reaction of the players said differently and although Ramage delayed his fate by laying prostrate on the ground, head in hands, Darren Deadman duly produced the red card when he got up again and Ramage was left to make the long, lonely walk straight back to the dressing room from whence he came looking absolutely distraught and with the applause of all four sides of the ground ringing in his ears. We shall save the debate about whether any chance is a “clear goal scoring opportunity” when it’s Shola Ameobi on the ball for another time.
Rangers thought they’d taken the lead on the hour when Jay Simpson finally wriggled free of the attentions, legal at first but then highly illegal and requiring a good advantage from the referee for play to continue, of Williamson before running through on goal towards Coluccini with Priskin up in support. With Simpson low on confidence and Priskin possessing a footballing brain equivalent to his muppet lookalike Beaker a goal was never likely and sure enough after getting in each other’s way a bit Simpson played the ball too late, by which time Priskin had lolloped into his natural offside habitat and although the finish was fine and beat Krul with some considerable ease the flag had long since been raised and the goal was ruled out. A very frustrating moment, because having freed himself from Williamson the goal was actually easier to score than miss but Simpson dithered, and then chose the right option but too late while Priskin failed to hold his run. The need for quality strikers has never been more obvious than it was on Saturday – two mediocre ones would have won us this game despite the sending off.
Priskin’s mood with the officials probably didn’t improve much when his speculative long range effort deflected wide off Newcastle’s impressive full back Danny Simpson and a goal kick was awarded. Deadman is what I would call a by the book referee – there’s not a lot of common sense or leeway given – and when that pernickety, annoying, picky style of referee is combined with a linesman who flags for everything constantly and another who may as well have stuck his flag up his arse for all the use he was getting out of it it’s not a good combination. I’m sure Newcastle won’t miss the standard of officiating in this league much next season.
QPR: Cerny 7, Leigertwood 7, Ramage 6, Gorkss 6, Tosic 8, Ephraim 5 (Rose 77, 6), Faurlin 8, Buzsaky 6, Cook 6 (Parker 49, 7), Simpson 6, Priskin 6
Subs Not Used: Putnins, Balanta, Brown, Oastler, German
Sent Off: Ramage 46 (professional foul)
Newcastle: Krul 7, Simpson 7, Coloccini 7, Williamson 8, Taylor 7, Routledge 6, Barton 7, Smith 6, Guthrie 6 (Vuckic 79, 7),Best 5 (Lovenkrands 54, 8), Ameobi 5 (Carroll 79, 6)
Subs Not Used: Harper, Nolan, Pancrate, Donaldson
Booked: Williamson (foul), Taylor (foul)
Goal: Lovenkrands 71 (assisted Barton)
Referee – Darren Deadman 5 Possibly slightly harsh on the referee, but the officiating team as a whole did not cover themselves in glory on Saturday. Deadman got a number of decisions wrong, although the sending off looked fair enough, while his two linesmen may as well have slung five or six decisions into a hat and then drawn them out at random every couple of minutes such was the haphazard and at times bizarre decision making from both of them.
QPR 3 Sheff Wed 2, Monday April 13, 2009
The game looked to be up for Rangers eight minutes after half time. Leon Clarke swooped on a loose ball in the penalty area, muscling between Gorkss and Stewart and then hitting the deck under a heavy challenge. It looked like a certain penalty from my seat and sure enough referee Darren Deadman soon arrived on the scene and pointed to the spot. Marcus Tudgay stepped up to hammer the ball down the middle past Cerny, the Czech keeper almost got a foot to the ball but the power carried it past him with something to spare. A less deserved two goal lead I struggle to recall.
Wednesday made their own change at this point, bringing on Sodje for Clarke. His first action was to challenge Gorkss for a long ball down the field – an incident that left both players laid out on the turf. Gorkss certainly came off the worst, Sodje was up pretty quickly, and although the referee took no action and actually started the game again with a drop ball I thought that it looked like n horrendous piece of play by Sodje who clearly led with his forearm. Perhaps I’m wrong but my first reaction when it happened was that it would be a definite red card. Sodje tried to make out like it was a clash of heads but you could tell by the speed he got up and played on that it was nothing of the sorts. A nasty, malicious piece of play for which QPR were awarded a bloody drop ball. Honestly two bookings for diving and nothing for that, you’ve got to wonder sometimes haven’t you?
A great chance to win the game presented itself in the eightieth minute. Another flowing move through midfield saw a ball released in behind the Wednesday defence into the left channel. Heidar Helguson gave chase but was clipped by Mark Beevers on the edge of the area as he did so and he tumbled to earth. Referee Deadman quickly awarded a free kick and then booked Beevers after consultation with the linesman – the right decision all round really as I think Helguson may have struggled to reach the ball at all never mind score with it. The free kick was no more than a foot outside the penalty area and looked to be an ideal chance but Lee Cook’s left footed shot caught the top of the wall and was cleared away to safety.
And then the referee turned on us. Suddenly a succession of bizarre free kick decisions were awarded against Rangers giving Wednesday the chance to load the penalty box with bodies and sling dangerous high balls in there. When that failed to bring an equaliser in standard time the board appeared with a six on it to bring the Wednesday fans back to life and induce nerves in those around the other three sides of the field. Injuries to Gorkss and others, substitutions and goals probably accounted for a fair wedge of it but I couldn’t help but be frustrated that the time wasting Sheff Wed had been doing when winning was now actually coming back as a reward for them and punishment for QPR.
Lee Grant had been chief amongst the clock runners but spent most of stoppage time in the QPR penalty area. After finally finding a way to beat him consistently how annoying would it have been for him to go down the other end and score one himself to deny us richly deserved points? He went close too, one of Wednesday’s three injury time corners landed plum on the head of Tudgay with Grant just half a yard behind him. Tudgay’s header looked destined for the top corner but somehow clipped the bar and tangled itself up on, rather than in, the roof of the net.
QPR: Cerny 7, Ramage 7, Stewart 7, Gorkss 8, Connolly 7, Cook 7, Mahon 8 (Leigertwood 76, 7), Taarabt 7 (Vine 56, 7), Lopez 8 (Ephraim 68, 7), Routledge 7, Helguson 8
Subs Not Used: Delaney, Miller
Booked: Taarabt (diving), Cook (foul)
Goals: Vine 62 (assisted Routledge), Mahon 74 (assisted Cook), Stewart 88 (assisted Cook)
Sheff Wed: Grant 6, Spurr 6, Hinds 4, Wood 3 (Beevers 46, 3), Buxton 5, O'Connor 5, Potter 5, Esajas 6 (Johnson 77, 6), Clarke 6 (Sodje 78, 6), Varney 5, Tudgay 6
Subs Not Used: McAllister, Jeffers
Booked: Varney (diving), Beevers (foul)
Goals: Mahon 35 og (assisted Esajas), Tudgay 53 (penalty)
Referee: Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire) 5 Very difficult to mark here because for the majority of the game I thought he controlled it very well and played the advantage rule excellently. Hard to argue with any of the cards given or the penalty. However for me Tudgay was lucky to escape punishment in the first half, Sodje should have been sent off in the second and he didn’t even award a free kick and some of his decisions in the last five or ten minutes were perplexing.
Forest 2 QPR 2, Saturday February 8, 2009
Referee Darren Deadman was copping some fearful abuse from the home fans during all this but he did not seem to get too much wrong to me. To compound matters from the home fans’ point of view the only booking of the first half went Forest’s way - Moloney got one for fouling Alberti.
Forest though found a way through and took the lead on the stroke of half time with a terribly soft goal from a QPR point of view. Rangers failed to clear their lines adequately and the ball was collected 30 yards from goal by the excellent Lewis McGugan who chipped it back in behind the ramshackle back four looking for the run of Luke Chambers who had got the wrong side of Matteo Alberti. The ball seemed destined for the arms of Lee Camp but Alberti hauled Chambers back anyway - an obvious foul and penalty. Camp hammered the ball into the ground in frustration because there really did not seem any need for Alberti to do what he did. The Italian was booked for the foul.
Camp and McGugan probably faced each other in this situation several times in training during the keeper’s loan spell with Forest but the inside knowledge benefited the taker rather than the keeper and McGugan sent him the wrong way for the opening goal of the game. It was no more than McGugan deserved – he was the most impressive Forest player on the day for me along with Chambers, driving the home team forward and directing them around the field from the centre of the park. He impressed me at Loftus Road as well.
Nottm Forest: Smith 6, Chambers 7, Morgan 7, Wilson 6, Moloney 6, Heath 6, McGugan 8, Cohen 7, Thornhill 6 (Breckin 90, -), Tyson 5 (Newbold 15, 6), Garner 5 (McCleary 66, 6)
Subs Not Used: Gamble, Byrne
Booked: Moloney (foul), Newbold (foul), McCleary (foul), Morgan (foul)
Goals: McGugan 45 (penalty) Cohen 67 (assisted Chambers)
QPR: Camp 5, Connolly 7, Stewart 7, Gorkss 8, Delaney 7, Routledge 7, Leigertwood 7, Miller 6 (Ephraim 70, 6), Mahon 7, Alberti 7 (Balanta 83, 6), Di Carmine 6 (Blackstock 59, 6)
Subs Not Used: Hall, Rose
Booked: Alberti (shirt pulling)
Goals: Alberti 45 (assisted Connolly), 48 (assisted Routledge)
Referee: Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire) 7 The Forest fans gave him plenty of stick in the first half for not clamping down on the physical nature of the QPR defending and perhaps we were lucky to get away with one or two things but overall there seemed to be a lot of moaning about not very much. The penalty was the right decision as were all the bookings. Did very little wrong all day really.
Bristol City 1 QPR 1, Saturday August 30, 2008
That is now his third booking in five matches for dissent, amongst countless talkings to from referess and other senior players in the team. Regardless of the language barrier there is no excuse, and his immaturity could well have cost us two points and almost three as the game was there for the taking. Not to mention he gets a one match ban for the sending off, and is one more card away from another one match ban. As for the second yellow, I have to say I didn't see what happened at the match, however from watching the replays on the Championship it appears the referee who was looking straight at it saw nothing untoward until his linesman half the length of the pitch away started flagging. The fact he then gave a throw to QPR instead of a free kick to Bristol was further indication the referee didn't have the foggiest idea what was happening. It just appeared to me that he was just itching to give the Argentinean another yellow at the first opportunity. However, the fact that Ledesma continues to give these opportunities for referees to 'teach him a lesson' is his own fault and one that could cost us more points further down the line.
Bristol City: Basso, Orr, Carey, Fontaine, McAllister (Webster, 55 ) , Wilson (Sproule, 79 ) , Skuse (Williams, 57 ) , Johnson, McIndoe, Adebola, Maynard
Subs not used: Weale, Brooker
Goals: Adebola 25
Bookings: Orr, Sproule
QPR: Cerny, Ramage, Stewart, Connolly, Delaney, Ledesma, Leigertwood, Mahon, Cook ( Rowlands, 54 ) , Parejo ( Agyemang, 76 ) , Blackstock
Subs not used: Camp, Gorkss, Balanta
Goals: Blackstock 18
Sent Off Ledesma 50 (two bookings)
Booked: Blackstock, Cook, Ledesma, Ledesma, Rowlands
Referee Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire) 3 Whilst he wasn't what I'd label a homer, he did after all book Sproule for diving in the box towards the end, he looked to be just itching to be given the chance to card Ledesma, and it appears normal practice for Bristol defenders to be able to climb on top of Blackstock for the whole 90 minutes with narry a word. He managed to book Rowlands for a perfectly good tackle and gave a throw to us when apparently Ledesma had committed a foul that Deadman, looking straight at it, had no problem with until the lino half a pitch away saw something nobody else did.
QPR 3 Bristol City 0, Saturday February 2, 2008
The traffic was all flowing one way but Rangers had their first serious scare of the match on the half hour when Lee Camp came for a cross only to be smashed off the ball by Dele Adebola. The ball bounced around the QPR penalty area with Camp motionless in the goal mouth. Not only did referee Deadman not give a free kick but he allowed the play to go on for 20 terrifying seconds before bringing the game to a halt as Nick Carle prepared to shoot at the open net from distance. The QPR players protested to the referee and Camp received lengthy treatment before asking a few questions of the officials himself. In the meantime every single Bristol City player had congregated by the dug out for an impromptu team talk and rearrangement by Gary Johnson.
QPR: Camp 7, Mancienne 8, Stewart 7, Rehman 7 (Connolly 76, 7), Delaney 7, Ephraim 7 (Lee 75, 7), Mahon 7, Buzsaky 7, Rowlands 8, Vine 7 (Leigertwood 89, -), Agyemang 8
Subs Not Used: Crowther, Blackstock
Booked: Rowlands (foul), Vine (diving)
Goals: Agyemang 18 (assisted Vine) 33 (assisted Buzsaky) Buzsaky 63 (assisted Agyemang)
Bristol City: Basso 6, Orr 5, Vasko 3 (Fontaine 46, 5), McCombe 2, McAllister 5, Carle 7 (Sproule 66, 6), Elliott 6, Johnson 5 (Noble 80, 6), McIndoe 6, Byfield 5, Adebola 6
Subs Not Used: Weale, Skuse
Booked: Adebola (repetitive fouling), Fontaine (foul)
Referee: Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire) 6 - His record seems to suggest a more laid back, less fussy approach this season than last and that proved to be the case. Allowed a lot of physical contact to go unchecked and for the most part that was welcome, although the decision to allow Adebola free reign to physically attack Lee Camp in the first half was a strange one and almost cost us a goal. Hard to argue with the four cards shown.
And prior to all of that he refereed our 2006 home win against Hull City (2-0, Blackstock and Jones) in John Gregory’s first game in charge.
So far this season Mr Deadma has shown a pretty hefty 94 yellows in 25 games, and sent five players off – an average of 3.76 bookings a game. Hs busiest day by far was the FA Cup match between League Two side Torquay and Conference champions Crawley where he booked nine, sent off two and awarded Crawley two penalties – both of which they missed. Only once this season has he shown no cards in a match.
Last season he showed 94 yellows (2.54 a game) and six reds in 37 games which included two yellows and a red in the QPR v Newcastle game. His last Watford game was their 2-1 defeat at Sheff Wed in March and he also did their 2-2 home draw with Blackpool last season.
League One >>> Gavin Ward is in charge of Sheff Wed v Hartlepool, Trevor Kettle has Yeovil v Oldham and Sian Massey is running the line at Southampton v Bristol Rovers.
League Two >>> God only knows why but the Premiership’s top man aside from Howard Webb Martin Atkinson is doing Stevenage v Aldershot this weekend.