 Thursday, 23rd Dec 2010 20:52 by Clive Whittingham For the first time since 2006 referee Phil Crossley is in charge of Rangers this weekend as Swansea City come to town. Referee >>> Phil Crossley (Kent) league referee since 2002 with three QPR appointments to his name so far. Refereed Swansea’s 2-0 defeat at Norwich in August. Assistants >>> Neil Hair (Cambridgeshire) and Gary Evetts (Hertfordshire) Fourth Official >>> Chris Knowles (Northamptonshire) PreviouslyLuton 2 QPR 0, Saturday January 21, 2006 As the half wore on Rangers started to have less and less influence on the game. Every time the ball went within ten yards of Baidoo the linesman flagged against him for pulling Heikkinen. This was frustrating for the youngster as the big Finnish defender was doing just as much to him and yet he kept being awarded the free kicks. I'm not sure why the linesman took it upon himself to flag every single time throughout the first half - I know in front of the main stand at Kenilworth Road can be an intimidating place but for an official but for goodness sake strap on a pair! QPR did get the rub of the green from the referee right on half time though. A cross from Edwards looped up into the QPR penalty area. Royce came to catch but never looked comfortable under it and Steve Howard steamed into the danger zone, beat the keeper to the ball and headed powerfully into the net. It was a perfectly good goal and yet referee Phil Crossley, deputising for Richard Beeby, decided that Royce had been fouled and while Howard ran sixty yards milking the applause from the main stand Rangers took their free kick and got on with the game. This decision was a real treat for QPR. They say goalkeepers are protected too much and that was certainly the case here. Howard didn't lift his arms and seemed to make minimal contact with the keeper. The last time I checked this was a contact sport and Howard could hardly be expected to just stand there and let Royce catch the ball can he? At half time Ian Holloway replaced the ineffective Baidoo with Marc Nygaard. A combination of harsh officiating and powerful defending from Heikkinen had rendered Baidoo virtually useless in the first half. He rarely won the ball ahead of his marker and when he did the whistle was blown. Richard Langley had endured a poor first half but tackled much harder and put in more effort in the second period. This riled his opponent Nicholls who lost his temper with Langley after a tackle on the halfway line. The incident earned Langers a harsh booking and Nicholls got away with his petulance. Luton: Beresford 6, Underwood 8, Coyne 8, Heikkinen 9*, Foley 7, Brkovic 8 (Morgan 75, 7), Showunmi 6 (Barnett 64, 7), Nicholls 7, Edwards 8, Vine 7 (Feeney 65, 6), Howard 8 Subs Not Used: Bell, Brill. Booked: Feeney. Goals: Heikkinen 13, Howard 85. QPR: Royce 7, Rose 5, Shittu 6, Santos 4, Bignot 5 (Taylor 83, 4), Cook 6, Lomas 5, Langley 6, Ainsworth 6 (Moore 79, 5), Baidoo 5 (Nygaard 45, 7), Furlong 5. Subs Not Used: Milanese, Donnelly. Booked: Shittu, Langley. Ref: Phil Crossley (Kent) - 5 - Made a terrible error in disallowing the Howard goal and wasted a good ten minutes of the second half by talking to everybody that committed even a minor offence for what seemed like an eternity. Probably likes the sound of his own voice. All three bookings looked harsh and the one player who should have been carded, Nicholls, went unpunished. QPR 2 Hull City 2, Saturday November 26, 2005 Paul Furlong found his way into trouble just fifteen minutes into his comeback match, executing a sickening two footed tackle on Hull full back Damien Delaney as he cleared the ball down the line. Furlong is still remembered in Hull for a similar tackle on Mark Lynch back in August which dislocated the former Sunderland man's knee and Furs certainly didn't endear himself to the visiting fans any more with this latest effort. Perhaps it's the frustration of his goal drought that's doing it but Furs' discipline has been deplorable so far this season and the yellow card handed to him by Crossley was the least he deserved. Rangers continued to push for a winner despite the disappointment of Cook's miss. With fourteen minutes still remaining Cook launched another attack down the left and played an early ball across the face of goal towards Paul Furlong, Bo Myhill came rushing out from his goal and claimed the ball right on the edge of the area. As he caught the ball Myhill seemed to lose his footing and fell in an ungainly heap right on the whitewash. He looked from where I was sitting to have done superbly well and held the ball inside the boundaries of the area despite most of his body slipping outside but the home fans bayed for a flag and the linesman underneath the Q block responded. After a brief discussion between referee and linesman Myhill was dismissed and Hull were down to ten. It looked a very poor decision to me, Myhill seemed to easily keep the ball inside the area and even so it's debatable whether he denied a goal scoring opportunity as we're now being told the rule demands for red cards. Nevertheless Rangers had their break and as Peter Taylor introduced giant sub keeper Matt Duke in place of Paynter Richard Langley and Lee Cook held court on the very edge of the penalty area. The stage seemed set, the run of defeats was about to be ended, Hull were at sixes and sevens, the wall looked like it had been put together by a half interested con on community service and all Langley or Cook had to do was keep the ball down, and get the damn thing on target. Duke frantically tried to peer through the forest of bodies as the whistle sounded and Loftus Road fell silent in anticipation. It was Langley, right footed, and it was a screamer, flying round the wall at a ferocious pace, past Duke who made a flailing attempt to reach it and, heartbreakingly, it bounced off the top of the right hand post and out for a throw in on the Ellerslie Road side. If it had happened to anybody else this would have been funny. In typical fashion Ian Holloway's team almost chucked the whole thing away to the ten men at the death. More confusion in the defence and more hesitancy from Royce had Fagan bearing down on a long ball eighteen yards out. Royce came right out to the edge of the box and seemed to handle illegally as he guided the ball away from danger. Unlike the Myhill incident, the linesman kept his flag down. Now it was Hull's turn to curse bad luck. QPR: (first half ratings) Royce 5, Bignot 5, Evatt 6, Santos 5 (Cook 45, -), Milanese 6, Ainsworth 4, Rowlands 4, Langley 4, Dyer 4, Gallen 5 (Moore 48,-), Furlong 6. QPR:(second half ratings) Royce 4, Bignot 7, Evatt 7, Santos - (Cook 45, 8), Milanese 8, Ainsworth 8, Rowlands 8, Langley 7, Dyer 7, Gallen - (Moore 48,8), Furlong 7. Subs Not Used: Cole, Bean, Baidoo. Booked: Furlong, Dyer. Goals: Ainsworth 56, 66. Hull: Myhill 7, Lynch 8, Cort 8, Collins 6, Delaney 6, France 7, Welsh 6, Woodhouse 6, Paynter 8 (Duke 77, 7), Fagan 8, Barmby 6 (Elliott 62, 6). Subs Not Used: Green, Stockdale, Fry. Sent Off: Myhill (76). Booked: Elliott. Goals: France 40, Paynter 50. Referee: P Crossley (Kent) - 6 - To be honest I thought he was great, but I know if I'd been a Hull fan I'd have screamed the place down about him. Positives - kept the cards in his pocket, allowed the game to flow. Negatives - got two massive decisions wrong. Myhill kept the ball in the area as far as I'm concerned and even if he didn't his accidental slip, and the lack of an R closing in hardly make it deliberately denying a goal scoring chance, should have been a yellow card at worst. Royce on the other hand looked very fortunate to get away with a similar offence at the other end. In fairness to Crossley both decisions came down to the linesmen. Prior to that he refereed a 0-0 draw at Millwall in the 2004/05 season when Lee Cook was denied a blatant penalty in the very last minute of the game by Crossley who probably feared for his safety had he awarded it. StatsSo far this season Mr Crossley has shown 44 yellows (2.75 a game) and three reds in 16 matches, peaking with five yellows and two reds when Reading beat Ipswich 1-0 at the Madejski in September. Six of those matches, 15 of the yellow cards and two of the reds have come in the Championship. Last season he showed 122 yellows (3.38 a game) and eight reds in 36 matches. Other ListingsChampionship >>> Kevin Friend is back in this league, he may actually have been dropped from the Premiership altogether judging by his recent appointments, to take on Reading v Bristol City. League One >>> Andy D’Urso has the tasty looking encounter between Charlton and Southampton, irritating young upstart Gavin Ward has Dagenham v Brighton, and the powers that be obviously didn’t think much to Peter Walton’s handling of Man City v Everton on Monday because he’s been given Notts County v Rochdale. Tuesday >>> Neil Swarbrick is in charge as the R’s go to Coventry live on Sky Sports. 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