The Wright man for Ipswich game?
Monday, 21st Feb 2011 16:10 by Clive Whittingham

Kevin Wright is the listed referee for our clash with Ipswich on Tuesday night, although given he has been replaced three of the last four times he has been appointed to a QPR game it remains to be seen whether he actually turns up.

Referee >>> Kevin Wright (Cambridgeshire) league official since 2003, listed for QPR’s home game against Swansea last season and away matches at Wolves and Norwich the year before only to be replaced.

Assistants >>> John Busby (Oxfordshire) and Gary Jerden (Essex)

Fourth Official >>> Marvin Thompson (Middlesex)

Previously

Derby 0 QPR 2, Saturday January 17, 2009

The pattern of play soon reverted to type with Routledge cruelly tormenting Camara. The full back obviously had not learnt anything from his footballing lesson in the first half as he dived in on Routledge and then hauled him back by his shirt after he’d gone around him – referee Kevin Wright had enjoyed a quiet afternoon up to that point but had little option but to produce the yellow card for the first time.

Barnes was replaced by Barazite a short time later but QPR remained the better team and Sousa gave the dire Derby backline something else to think about when he sent Di Carmine on for Helguson. The Icelandic international had won plenty of flicks ons and worked reasonably hard, Di Carmine picked up where he left off – steady, unspectacular line running. Di Carmine drew a second booking of the game, for Andy Todd this time, when he outwitted the leaden footed centre half and then crashed to earth under a heavy tackle.

Derby: Carroll 5, Albrechtsen 5, Todd 4, Nyatanga 6, Camara 3, Barnes 6 (Barazite 70, 5), Green 6, Addison 7, Commons 6, Varney 4 (Davies 59, 6), Hulse 5

Subs Not Used: Bywater, Savage, Teale

Booked: Camara (foul), Todd (foul)

QPR: Cerny 7, Connolly 8, Gorkss 7, Stewart 7, Delaney 7, Routledge 9, Leigertwood 8, Mahon 8, Rowlands 6 (Ephraim 12, 8), Cook 6 (Alberti 90, -), Helguson 6 (Di Carmine 64, 6)

Subs Not Used: Hall, Blackstock

Goals: Routledge 22 (unassisted), Leigertwood 36 (assisted Routledge)

Referee: Kevin Wright (Cambridgeshire) 9 Not a referee I have a lot of time for normally but it is hard to think of a decision he got wrong in this match. Both bookings were justified and he did not interfere unduly with the play. Probably the best so far this season.

Cardiff 0 QPR 0, Saturday March 25, 2006

The first booking of the match came moments later and in truth only the honesty of Gareth Ainsworth prevented Loovens taking an early bath. At Loftus Road in December Loovens had been simply terrible, hacking around wildly and showing no footballing ability whatsoever. Here he was beaten to a ball on halfway by Ainsworth but continued to execute an ugly flying tackle on the Rangers man which sent Ainsworth flying. It was as bad a challenge as you could hope to see but Ainsworth bounced straight back up and perhaps this reaction saved Loovens from the red he deserved.

Cardiff Alexander 8, Barker 7, Purse 8, Loovens 4, Scimeca 5, Ardley 6,Koumas 7, Ledley 6, Cooper 6 (Weston 77, -), Thompson 7, Jerome 6.

Subs Not Used: Cox, Boland, Ndumbu-Nsungu, Worgan.

Booked: Loovens.

QPR Jones 7, Bignot 6, Milanese 6, Evatt 8, Shittu 8, Bircham 7,Ainsworth 7, Cook 6, Lomas 7, Youssouf 5(Furlong 72, 6),Nygaard 4 (Langley 89, -).

Subs Not Used: Royce, Santos, Baidoo.

Att: 14,271

Ref: K Wright (Cambridgeshire) 7 - Not too bad at all surprisingly. He kept the cards in his pocket although he could quite easily have sent Loovens off for his wild hack on Ainsworth. Allowed the game to flow as much as possible and all in all did a steady job. Most unlike him.

Crewe 3 QPR 4, Saturday December 31, 2005

Lee Cook too was turning in an unusually lung busting, hard working display and should have been rewarded with a penalty eighteen minutes into the game. Cook combined well with Rose down the left and chipped a delicate pass in behind Moss for Rose to run onto. The Rangers left back controlled the bouncing ball well with his first touch and then attempted to widen the angle with his second only to have the retreating Moss whip it off his boot with his right hand.

A more blatant penalty you'd struggle to find but referee Kevin Wright, who tortured Rangers fans on Boxing Day two years ago at Notts County, typically turned a blind eye to the offence. This was just one of numerous head bangingly obvious handballs by both sides missed by Wright on the day and if I worked for the DVLA I'd seriously consider revoking that guys license - how he manages to stop at something as concealed and sly as say, a red traffic light with such piss poor eyesight I don't know.

Blatant penalty or not it was disappointing to see Cook argue the toss with Wright for the next four minutes, following the hapless whistle blower right down to the other end of the pitch and back again instead of just getting on with the game.

Again scoring a goal seemed to scare Rangers. They retreated back into their shell and were lucky to get away with two near misses just past the hour mark. First Steve Jones batted the ball away from Shittu with his hand and sent a shot a fraction wide of the post. Incredibly our representative from Sightsavers International Mr Wright ignored the offence and signalled a goal kick. Had Jones curled it a fraction more Crewe would have been in front, the goal would have been allowed and Cheshire Police could have had a riot on their hands. Wright was chased across the pitch by Bignot, Shittu and others but offered only a gormless smirk as response.

Still Rangers had only beaten him four times and Crewe almost snatched a point at the death. Gareth Ainsworth brilliantly won a header against Lunt wide on the Rangers right but for some reason found himself pulled up by Wright. Lunt's lethal free kick almost found its way into the net off the head of Shittu but Royce was in the right place at the right time to claim and the R's somehow managed to make it through three minutes of added time to secure victory.

Crewe: Turnbull 4, Tonkin 4 (Rodgers 69 7), McCready 4, Foster 4, Moss 3, Vaughan 7, Billy Jones 7, Lunt 7, Gary Roberts 8, Johnson 8 (Varney 37 8), Steve Jones 9.

Subs Not Used: Tomlinson, Rix, Walker.

Booked: Billy Jones.

Goals: Johnson 15, Varney 39, Billy Jones 45.

QPR: Royce 6, Rose 2, Santos 2 (Milanese 69 6), Shittu 6, Bignot 5, Cook 7, Rowlands 8, Bircham 6 (Ainsworth 21, 6), Langley 8, Nygaard 7 (Furlong 69, 7), Baidoo 7.

Subs Not Used: Moore, Donnelly.

Goals: Cook 35, Baidoo 37, Rowlands 57, Langley 81.

Att: 5,687

Ref: K Wright (Cambridgeshire) 4 - This guy always has been and sadly always will be a total cretin. He wouldn't notice three diesel engines pulling fifty wagons blasting Cliff Richard hits from the cab until it had run him over. He was up to his usual home orientated, incompetent standard today.

Derby 1 QPR 2, Saturday October 29, 2005

Since arriving from Coventry John, a former Forest player, has received some horrendous stick from the Derby fans but he looked the most likely to get them off to a good start. After three minutes disorganisation in the Rangers' defence allowed John all the time he needed to shoot for goal but Royce produced a superb low save to his right to turn the ball behind for a corner. From the set piece Inigo Idiakez whipped a tremendous corner in from the Derby right and with confusion again rife in the Rangers' rear guard Simon Royce ended up punching the ball into his own net.

Fortunately for the visitors referee Kevin Wright had already blown for a foul on the keeper by Peschisolido and the deadlock remained.

Other than that the only real talking points in the opening stages were a series of bizarre decisions from referee Kevin Wright. Emerson Thome was getting away with murder every time the ball went near Furlong including one incident where the big Brazilian crawled over the back of the Rangers' striker, hauled Furs to the ground and was then awarded a free kick himself!

Things turned sour for QPR very quickly though. Paul Furlong, who really is old enough to know better, responded to some more rough house defending from Thome by lashing out at the Derby man as he ran past. Thome naturally hit the deck as if he'd been stabbed with a thousand knives and Mr Wright had little choice but to send Furlong from the field.

The pressure was relentless and yet it was QPR who created the best chance of the half. With Kenna gone and Derby searching for a goal they left themselves hopelessly short at the back and when Georges Santos found Kevin Gallen on the counter attack the home side were deep in the brown stuff. Gallen sent Stefan Moore racing in on goal but the young striker never looked confident and after taking two touches into the penalty area he steadied himself and fired the ball straight at Poole. It was a glaring miss and one the highlights Moore's lack of confidence at the moment.

Watching Derby go down the other end and win a penalty can't have done much for the lad either. With nineteen minutes remaining it was again Blackstock causing the problems, turning Dyer in the penalty area and then flicking the ball over the loan full back's head. For reasons known only to himself Dyer thrust out and arm and blocked the ball, a clear penalty. Idiakez placed the ball on the spot and the home fans finally thought their moment had arrived.

Not so. Just before the kick was taken Marcus Bignot rushed out of the pack on the edge of the box and frantically pointed for Royce to go to his right. It was good advice and after Idiakez's jinking, stop start, highly illegal run up Royce palmed a poor penalty kick away with both hands.

The natives were now more restless than ever and Rangers' produced a real ground emptier with eleven minutes to go. Georges Santos broke out of his own half with the ball at his feet and options both sides. Santos chose correctly, going left to Kevin Gallen, and played the pass superbly, Kevin strode onto the ball and majestically glided it past Poole and in off the base of the post. A better finish you're never likely to see.

Derby: Poole 6, Kenna 4 (Thirlwell 58, 5), Michael Johnson 5, Thome 7, Johnnie Jackson 6, Bisgaard 4, Idiakez 5, Seth Johnson 7, Whittingham 5, John 7 (Blackstock 59, 7), Peschisolido 5 (Tudgay 81, 6)

Subs Not Used: Camp, Doyle.

Booked: Peschisolido.

Goal: Blackstock 84.

QPR: Royce 9, Bignot 8, Shittu 8, Evatt 8, Dyer 8, Ainsworth 8 (Milanese 90, -), Doherty 8 (Langley 81, 7), Santos 7, Gallen 9, Furlong 4, Sturridge 5 (Moore 62, 5).

Subs Not Used: Shimmin, Donnelly.

Sent Off: Furlong (34).

Goals: Ainsworth 30, Gallen 80.

Ref: K Wright (Cambridgeshire) 4 - No arguments about the penalty decision, or the sending off, but a series of perplexing decisions riled both players and fans on the QPR side. Countless times he waved fouls on Gallen, Sturridge and Moore away claiming they'd dived but at the other end he couldn't the whistle in his mouth quick enough when Peschisolido, Idiakez or Bisgaard crashed to earth - which they did regularly. When a team goes down to ten men defending a lead you'd expect them to concede more free kicks but a final total of 23 free kicks to 8 in Derby's favour is taking things a little bit far, especially with the amount of Rangers free kicks he ignored. Also allowed Emerson Thome to batter Furlong for half an hour with both boots and elbows before the Rangers man foolishly took the bait.

Prior to all of that he was in charge at Loftus Road for Rangers’ 2-1 win against Nottingham Forest at the end of the 2004/05 season, sending off Forest’s Darryl Powell in the first half. That result condemned Forest to relegation. The season before, 2003/04, in the division below he booked three as QPR drew 1-1 at home to Tranmere on their way to promotion.

Stats

This season Wright has shown 56 yellows (3.29 a game) and two reds in 17 matches. Only four of those matches have been in the Championship – previously he showed seven yellows in the Scunthorpe v Middlesbrough match which is his biggest single match haul this season. He recently refereed the southern area final second leg of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy between Exeter and Brentford. Last season he showed 99 yellows and eight reds in 33 games. He went on a splurge of red cards around this time last year showing five in eight games through February and March.

Other Listings

Championship >>> Mark Clattenburg finds himself back in the Championship for the second time in ten days following our draw against Nottingham Forest as he takes charge of Leeds v Barnsley.

League Cup >>> Mike Dean is the man in the middle for Sunday’s final between Arsenal and Birmingham.

Photo: Action Images

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