Premiership referee Mark Clattenburg, who refereed two of the most memorable QPR victories of the modern era, is back at Loftus Road this Sunday.
Referee >>> Mark Clattenburg (County Durham) sacked in 2007 over debts accrued by his business and threatening e-mails sent to associates but successfully appealed and was reinstated, after serving an eight month ban. Refereed our promotion game at Hillsborough in 2004, and home play off semi final against Oldham in 2003.
Assistants >>> Stephen Child (Kent) and Simon Long (Suffolk)
Fourth Official >>> Peter Walton (Northamptonshire) Premiership referee who took charge of our FA Cup defeat at Blackburn in January. Ironically replaced Clattenburg as the Community Shield referee in 2008 when he was sacked on the eve of the match.
Burnley 2 QPR 0, Saturday August 5, 2006
The best chance of the half fell to QPR though, and to Ward who met Rowlands' outswinging corner firmly from eight yards but sent the ball straight into the arms of Jensen. Either side of the keeper and it was in, despite the men on the line. Ward took his frustration out on the ball two minutes later with a stinging twenty five yard effort that screamed towards the bottom corner until Jensen diverted it wide.
The Australian midfielder was QPR's main driving force and he drew two Burnley bookings in the final fifteen minutes of the half. Jon Harley and Michael Duff were both carded for upending Ward around the edge of the penalty area.
After half time the home side stepped things up a gear. The home fans in the side stand started to back their players with increasing volume and gusto and right from the kick off they looked more up for it and fitter than QPR. O'Connor flew into Ainsworth right from the restart and was booked and then after another decision against his team manager Steve Cotterill launched a ball into the away end in frustration. He was ticked off by the referee but these two incidents raised the tempo in Burnley's play.
Burnley: Jensen 7, Thomas 7, Harley 7, Sinclair 6, Duff 7, J O'Connor 7 (Elliott 62, 6), Mahon 7 (G O'Connor 90, -), Jones 8, Gray 7, McCann 6, Lafferty 6 (Hyde 62).
Subs: McGreal, Foster.
Goals: Jones 58, 69
Bookings: Duff 33, Harley 45, O'Connor 46
QPR: P Jones 6, Bignot 5, Stewart 6, Rose 5, Milanese 5, Ainsworth 6, Rowlands 7 (Donnelly 78, 6), Lomas 7 (R Jones 65, 5), Ward 7, Cook 6, Czerkas 7 (Bircham 71, 6).
Subs: Cole, Kanyuka.
Referee: M Clattenburg 8 - Excellent start to the season refereeing wise. Played a good advantage, only used the cards when necessary although I remember thinking one of Burnley's was a bit harsh, and allowed some physical contact which was a blessed relief after the World Cup. Good job all in all.
Prior to that Clattenburg was the referee who awarded a late QPR goal from Georges Santos in a 2-1 win at Coventry in January 2005 when the home side believed the ball had not crossed the line. He was also the man in the middle the season before for one of the finest moments in QPR’s history – a 3-1 win at Hillsborough in front of 8,000 travelling fans to seal promotion into the Championship. A year earlier he was in the middle for our 3-0 win at Huddersfield on a Tuesday night with Paul Furlong scoring twice – he rather harshly booked Richard Langley in stoppage time for over celebrating a goal he didn’t even score, one of seven cards handed out on the night. Later that season he refereed another memorable QPR game as the R’s beat Oldham 1-0 in W12 in the play off semi final – the Latics’ Wayne Andrews was sent off late in the game. His first ever QPR appointment was in January 2001 – a 1-0 defeat at Norwich on our way to relegation from this division.
Clattenburg has shown 78 yellows (2.888 a game) and four reds in 27 matches this season – split between the Premiership, Europa League, Champions League and both cup competitions. He has shown six yellows and a red in a single match on two occasions, including the Arsenal v Huddersfield cup tie last week when the Gunners were awarded a questionable late penalty. His biggest haul in a single game was seven yellows and one red at Bolton v Blackburn in December. Last season he showed 105 yellows (2.5 a game) and five reds in 42 games. It’s games between Spurs and Man Utd that he seems to have the biggest problem with – he was the referee for th infamous Pedro Mendes goal that never was at Old Trafford when Roy Carroll dropped the ball three feet over the line and got away with it, then in February 2008 he refereed the fixture between the two at White Hart Lane and showed ten yellow cards, then this season he allowed Nani to roll the ball in and counted the goal after failing to award Tottenham a free kick when the Portuguese picked the ball up with his hands in the build up.
League One >>> Peter Walton has Rochdale v Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday before serving as fourth official in our game on Sunday.
Tuesday >>> Mark Halsey drops down from the Premiership for Doncaster v Ipswich, Trevor Kettle has Sheff Utd v Reading, Gavin Ward has Yeovil v Peterborough.