Following his poor handling of QPR’s home draw with Man City earlier in the season, few in hoops will be glad to see the return of Mike Dean at the Britannia Stadium this weekend.
Referee >>> Mike Dean (Wirral), previous two QPR appointments, at home to Man City and away to Millwall, have ended 2-2.
Assistants >>> Stuart Burt (Oxfordshire) and Stephen Child (Kent)
Fourth Official >>> Andrew Madley (West Yorkshire), brother Robert also on the league list.
City couldn’t live with their hosts. QPR were completely dominant. In an attempt to hang onto Rangers’ coat tails, the visitors took to disrupting the play with fouls. Clichy, having a torrid time at left back, hauled back Maurcio Isla, then five minutes later Fernandinho slid into Karl Henry and 60 seconds later still Samir Nasri tripped Charlie Austin. Referee Mike Dean, apparently taking into account the early time on time on the clock, the slippery conditions, and the fact that all three players were committing their first offences, kept his yellow card in his pocket.
Then, inexplicably, the Wirral official started to persecute QPR. Sandro was immediately booked for his first foul on Yaya Toure and he was followed into the book at ridiculous speed by three team mates — Isla for fouling Sergio Aguero, Richard Dunne for a tackle on Nasri, and then Vargas for fouling Fernandinho. Loftus Road howled with indignation. The big-club conspiracy theorists added paper to their files. A clearer example of one rule for one… you’ll rarely see.
In actual fact it helped. The crowd, already on the rowdy side of raucous, cranked it up another notch. Despite the refereeing and the disallowed goals Rangers remained in full stride. They took a richly deserved lead on 19 minutes when Isla made the most of Clichy’s latest slip to feed Austin in space — and, crucially, just onside — and he finished crisply past Hart and into the corner. He was quickly buried under a pile of team mates.
QPR: Green 7; Isla 7, Dunne 6, Caulker 6, Suk-Young 7; Vargas 7, Sandro 7 (Barton 46, 7), Henry 7, Fer 6; Austin 8, Zamora 8
Subs not used: Hill, Phillips, McCarthy, Hoilett, Kranjcar, Onuoha
Goals: Austin 21 (assisted Isla), Demichelis own goal 76 (assisted Austin)
Bookings: Sandro 18 (foul), Isla 36 (foul), Dunne 39 (foul), Vargas 45+1 (foul)
Man City: Hart 7; Sagna 5, Demichelis 5, Mangala 5, Clichy 4; Navas 6, Fernandinho 4 (Dzeko 64, - (Lampard 68, 6)), Fernando 3, Toure 6; Nasri 5 (Milner 74. 6), Aguero 9
Subs not used: Zabaleta, Milner, Caballero, Jovetic, Boyata
Goals: Aguero 32 (assisted Mangala), 83 (assisted Toure)
Referee — Mike Dean 4Couple of points added for getting the Joe Hart-farce correct in a high-pressure situation — the law an ass on that one rather than the referee — but apart from that I thought his first half display was about as poxy and one-eyed as you’re ever likely to see. Manchester City fouls were free kicks only, Dean taking account of the conditions, letting them away with their first fouls, not wanting to book players early in the game, etc etc. Then, bang, bang, bang, bang, four QPR yellow cards one after the other. The Isla one in particular was no worse than what had gone unpunished before it. Aguero handled the ball in the build up to the first goal and was allowed to play on - Charlie Austin shouldered the ball down late in the second half and was immediately whistled for a handball which led shortly after that to City’s second equaliser. Sagna blocked a shot from Sandro with his hand in the air. Simply not fair.
Millwall 2 QPR 2, Saturday October 19, 2013, Championship
The game seemed to have swung decisively in the visitors’ favour when Trotter was felled in the penalty box by Austin but Premier League referee Mike Dean, generously, decided no foul had been committed. The natives were still restless when Barton found Kranjcar on the edge of the penalty area at the other end of the field and the Croatian cracked home the opening goal with a calmness and ease most players would struggle to muster with a finish from half the distance.
Millwall meanwhile kept introducing strikers — Easter, Steve Morison and Andy Keogh came on for Trotter, McDonald and Martyn Woolford. The visitors dropped deeper as numbers flooded forward. The lack of a third goal was becoming an issue. Mike Dean added five minutes to the end of the game.
In the end Rangers were undone by a lack of concentration. Both Redknapp and his assistant Joe Jordan appeared to be hit in the face by the ball as Millwall tried to return it quickly for a throw in in front of the dugouts. An exchange of views took place between both benches and the supporters in the lower tier of that stand. While that was going on Millwall got on with the throw in, worked Easter into space in the penalty area, and when the ball rebounded back to him after he’d first attempted to square it he finished low off the far post for a deserved equaliser.
Millwall: Forde 6; Connolly 6, Robinson 5, Shittu 6, Malone 6; Waghorn 6, Bailey 6, Trotter 7 (Morison 70, 6), Abdou 6, Woolford 6 (Easter 79, 7); McDonald 6 (Keogh 63, 6)
Subs not used: Bywater, Smith, Lowry, Wright
Goals: McDonald 51 (assisted Trotter), Easter 90 (unassisted)
QPR: Green 6; Simpson 6, Dunne 6, Hill 6, Assou-Ekotto 6; Barton 6, Henry 6; O’Neil 7 (Phillips 82, 5), Kranjcar 8 (Faurlin 72, 6), Hoilett 7 (Jenas 86, -); Austin 7
Subs not used: Traore, Chevanton, Murphy, Ehmer
Goals: Kranjcar 26 (assisted Barton), Austin 69 (assisted Kranjcar)
Referee — Mike Dean (Wirral) 6 Millwall looked to have good cause for complaint over the penalty incident in the lead up to QPR’s first goal and thereafter he seemed determine to level things up by allowing gratuitous violence against Hoilett and Kranjcar to proceed unchecked.
QPR 2 MK Dons 4, Saturday January 26, 2013, FA Cup Fourth Round
There’s not much else to say about the first half. Fabio got booked for a foul, QPR had a couple of corners and did nothing with them, the ref blew his whistle and the home team left the pitch to a chorus of boos.
There were no changes at half time and as the teams lined up there was a feeling in the home stands that all was not lost. That didn’t last long! Very little happened in the first two or three minutes but what did suggested MK were very much livelier than QPR. Then they got a free kick in their own half, moved it right, then passed it inside before the ball was prodded forward through the right channel into the QPR penalty area. At the time and on the TV replays it looked as if the most forward MK player, Ryan Lowe, was clearly offside but the linesman’s flag stayed down and he chased after the ball doing a fair impression of Jamie Mackie. He caught it up, set off along the goal line towards the goal then cut the ball back to the onrushing Ryan Harley who swept it home.
The next few minutes would have been equally unbelievable to him. Within two minutes of the goal there was another shot, this time by Chicksen, who might have done better. Then Faurlin, who was not exactly having his best day ever, got booked for clattering the same player. Then Ben-Haim tried to control the ball with his shoulder/arm and conceded a free kick well outside the penalty area on QPR’s right. The ball was swung over, it pinged back across the box and arrived at the feet of Darren Potter, who belted it home. The away end exploded for the fourth time and several of the QPR regulars walked out.
QPR: Green 4, Da Silva 6, Ben-Haim 5, Ferdinand 2, Traore 3, Park 3 (Zamora 67, 6), Faurlin 3, Granero 4, Mackie 5, Campbell 4, Bothroyd 4
Subs not used: Murphy, Hill, Onuoha, Derry, Ephraim, M’bia
Goals: Bothroyd 83 (assisted Zamora), Da Silva 90 (assisted Bothroyd)
Bookings: Fabio 42 (foul), Faurlin 52 (foul)
MK Dons: Martin 7, Otsemobor 6, Lewington 7, MacKenzie 6 (Harley 20, 7), Chicksen 6, Kay 6, Williams 7, Potter 7, Smith 7 (Lines 75, 6), Bowditch (Alli 90, -), Lowe 7
Subs not used: Doumba, Flanagan, Rasulo, Ismail
Goals: Traore og 3 (assisted Green), Lowe 40 (assisted King), Harley 50 (assisted Lowe), Potter 56 (assisted Harley)
Referee — Mike Dean (Wirral) 6 Didn’t really have much to do to be honest. There were claims for a penalty when Mackie went down in the box, rather too easily in my view, and at other times some robust engagement from the MK players attracted criticism from QPR players and crowd. But, all in all he wasn’t a factor, unlike his linesman who on a different day would have allowed Campbell’s goal and flagged MK offside in the build-up to their third.
QPR 1 Southampton 2, Saturday November 17, 2012, Premier League
Puncheon, Lallana and Lambert were at the heart of everything. Lallana, man of the match for me, responded to Hoilett’s goal by making space for himself in the QPR penalty area and hitting a shot that was blocked away. Puncheon then drew an awkward save from Cesar and in the next attack crossed low for Lambert but he took a fresh air shot when unmarked in the box. There was a weak penalty appeal as Gaston Ramirez collapsed under a cross at the back post — never a spot kick in a month of Sundays but considering the one this referee awarded to Chelsea here in the FA Cup last season in almost identical circumstances you couldn’t blame the expensively acquired Uruguayan for trying his luck.
QPR: Cesar 6, Bosingwa 2 (Fabio 73, 5), Ferdinand 2, Nelsen 8, Traore 2, Granero 4, Faurlin 5 (Mackie 45, 7), Diakite 4 (Derry 71, 6), Hoilett 5, Taarabt 7, Cisse 4
Subs not used: Green, Wright-Phillips, Dyer, Ehmer
Goals: Hoilett 48 (assisted Taarabt)
Bookings: Bosingwa 68 (handball)
Southampton: Gazzaniga 4, Clyne 8, Yoshida 6, Fonte 6, Shaw 7 (Fox 74, 6), Schneiderlin 6, Ramirez 7 (Davis 61, 6), Cork 6, Lallana 8, Puncheon 8, Lambert 8 (Rodriguez 90, -)
Subs not used: K Davis, Hooiveld, Ward-Prowse, Mayuka
Goals: Lambert 22 (assisted Ramirez), Puncheon 45 (unassisted), Ferdinand og 82 (assisted Schneiderlin)
Referee — Mike Dean 9 Very little to referee given how uncompetitive the game was but I felt he got just about everything right and controlled the contest in an unfussy way. I hardly even noticed he was there, which is always a good sign.
Man City 3 QPR 2, Sunday May 13, 2012, Premier League
So step forward Joey bloody Barton. Captain Fantastic strikes again. Ten minutes after half time and five minutes after Cisse had positioned Rangers exactly where they wanted to be Barton reached out and gave his big, red, flashing self destruct button — worn through overuse — a big push. It happened in seconds and quickly escalated into an ugly incident that shamed Queens Park Rangers.
Carlos Tevez - refreshed after four months of pro-celebrity golf tournaments in his homeland and apparently forgiven because to do otherwise would be to go against the current situation in the modern game where the football players are Gods and can do whatever they like with no recourse - struck Barton across the back of the head on the corner of the penalty area as play developed further down the field. Barton, as Barton is always likely to do, responded by lashing out and elbowing the Argentinean troublemaker straight in the throat. Tevez hit the ground holding his face — not something Barton can quibble about too loudly after his behaviour in the Newcastle Arsenal fixture back in August — and when linesman Andy Garratt hoisted his flag into the air the outcome was never going to be a positive one for QPR.
Garratt had seen the retaliation, but not the first incident, and reported as much to Mike Dean whose eyes had been on the play in progress. Dean awarded City a free kick on the very edge of the penalty box — it could easily have been a spot kick — and dismissed Barton. All the bridges built with QPR fans over several weeks of improved performances and behaviour were ablaze again, and Barton wasn’t finished yet. Either the red mist descended or, as Barton claims, he made the decision to try and goad a City player into being sent off as well. Before leaving the field he aimed a headbutt at City captain Vincent Kompany and violently hacked at the back of Sergio Aguero’s leg sending the striker tumbling to the ground in pain. City boss Roberto Mancini leapt from the technical area and sprinted across the field to try and prevent Kompany and co from getting drawn into Barton’s tricks, pursued quickly by substitute Mario Balotelli who fancied a nice big thick slice of the farce for himself. The QPR coaching staff also piled onto the pitch to try and rescue Barton from himself and found themselves embroiled in a wrestling match with their captain. The scene quickly descended into anarchy.
In the dying embers of the game news came through from Stoke that the Bolton game was over, it had finished as a draw and QPR were safe regardless of what happened. The QPR bench and coaching staff spilled out onto the side of the pitch in celebration and half the QPR team on the field stopped what they were doing. Five seconds later Sergio Aguero rode Clint Hill’s challenge and smashed a league title winning goal past Paddy Kenny and into the net with the final kick of the game. He was booked for over celebrating, which you can only laugh at. Mike Dean, deary me.
Man City: Hart 6, Zabaleta 7, Kompany 8, Lescott 6, Clichy 6, Nasri 7, Yaya Toure 8 (De Jong 44, 6), Barry 6 (Dzeko 69, 7), Silva 8, Tevez 6 (Balotelli 75, 7), Aguero 7
Subs Not Used: Pantilimon, Richards, Milner, Kolarov
Booked: Aguero (over celebrating)
Goals: Zabaleta 39 (assisted Toure), Dzeko 90 (assisted Silva), Aguero 90 (assisted Balotelli)
QPR: Kenny 7, Onuoha 7, Ferdinand 8, Hill 9, Taiwo 8, Wright-Phillips 6, Barton 3, Derry 7, Mackie 7, Cisse 7 (Traore 59, 7), Zamora 6 (Bothroyd 76, 6)
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Gabbidon, Taarabt, Campbell, Buzsaky
Sent Off: Barton 55 (being a knob)
Booked: Bothroyd (kicking ball away)
Goals: Cisse 48 (unassisted), Mackie 66 (assisted Traore)
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) 7 The big decision on the day was the Joey Barton sending off which he got right, although Tevez should have been at least booked for his part in things initially. I’ve taken a couple of points off for the Aguero booking. A first league title in 44 years sealed with the final kick of the match after trailing 2-1 going into injury time and you book the guy for over celebrating. You have to be a special kind of pedantic arsehole to do that.
QPR 2 Arsenal 1, Saturday March 31, 2012, Premier League
An Arsenal attack broke down with an aimless ball forward that was collected by Clint Hill. He passed from midway in his own half towards space into which he thought Diakite would run. Diakite held his run and the ball carried on for much longer than might have been expected towards Taarabt, who was in a classic ‘inside forward’ position with Vermaelen in close attendance. The latter tried to nick the ball but our hero was too quick, nipping in to gather it, turn sharply, shimmy and then roar towards goal with Vermaelen in his wake. Koscielny came across to try to cover but Taarabt hit a powerful curling shot around Szczesny’s outstretched hand and into the corner of the net. At last, a Premiership goal in his 100th QPR game and after all those shots this season. Cue pandemonium and a goal celebration that got him booked, presumably for embracing someone in the crowd.
Having kept his cards in his pocket, Taarabt excepted, Mike Dean then produced three in quick succession. Vermaelen got cross with Mackie for an aerial challenge and they ended up head to head to debate the matter. Fortunately for both they kept their heads still and, as a result, just got yellows. And then Joey Barton, who throughout the game had delivered Neil’s advice to the letter, elected to carry a ball down the right wing when he had few other options and was hauled back by Song, who was booked.
Barton was booked for dragging back Oxlade-Chamberlain and then Diakite, all maturity and composure until this point, scythed down the same player in the right-hand corner to get his customary booking and leave Arsenal with a free kick as injury time ticked down. Cometh the hour of need, cometh the moron as in the aftermath of the tackle someone in the Ellerslie thought it was a good idea to throw a coin at a linesman. This prompted Dean to hold things up by bringing the linesman onto the pitch whilst he presumably discussed the matter with the fourth official over the radio link. I really don’t know why people do this sort of thing, it could cost the club a fine and it could have broken the concentration of the defence. In the end, the free kick was cleared away and after over five minutes of injury time Dean’s whistle prompted the end of the game and wild celebrations amongst fans, players and staff. Learning that Bolton and Wigan had won was a mild dampener on proceedings but, as the cliché goes, you can only deal with what is put in front of you and QPR had dealt with Arsenal very well. Six points from Liverpool and Arsenal — who’d have thunk it?
QPR: Kenny 8, Onuoha 8, Hill 8, Ferdinand 8, Taiwoo 8, Taarabt 9 , Derry 8, Diakite 9, Barton 8, Mackie 8, Zamora 8 (Wright-Phillips 90 -)
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Young, Gabbidon, Buszacky, Bothroyd
Booked: Taarabt (goal celebration), Mackie (squabbling with Vermaelen), Ferdinand (foul), Barton (foul), Diakite (foul)
Arsenal: Szczesny 7, Sagna 7, Vermaelen 5, Koscielny 7, Gibbs 7 (Chamakh 80 6), Rosicky 7, Arteta 7 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 80 7), Walcott 7, Ramsey 7 (Gervinho 69 6), Song 7, Van Persie 7
Subs Not Used: Fabianski, Santos , Djourou, Benayoun
Booked: Vermaelen (squaring up to Mackie), Song (foul)
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) 7 Did not do a lot wrong and kept the game flowing reasonably well. Ignored some of the histrionics from Arsenal players who felt they were being roughed up a bit. The cards he dealt were all valid.
Blackburn 3 QPR 2, Saturday February 11, 2012, Premier League
Referee Mike Dean, immediately appointed back to a QPR game just days after incorrectly awarding a penalty against them in an FA Cup tie with Chelsea, added four minutes to the end of the first half and could easily have awarded another spot kick against them when Fitz Hall clumsily bundled Yakubu over as he made his way towards goal but this time Dean showed no interest as Hall had got enough of the ball.
That made it 3-2 for a short period before Mike Dean put the home team out of their self inflicted misery because a minute after the Taiwoo shot the burly left back got in again down the left flank after Bradley Orr, bless him, completely misjudged an interception and allowed the big Nigerian to run in behind him. Taiwoo showed good composure to hold fire until the chance presented itself and then squared the ball to Jamie Mackie who fired into the empty net from a yard out.
In between those two goals Mackie blotted his copy book with a yellow card for dissent, although he was perfectly within his rights to question Mike Dean about why on earth Fitz Hall had been penalised for winning a header cleanly in the Blackburn box from a QPR set piece. Perhaps the sight of Hall winning a header of any sorts stunned Dean into the decision as an involuntary reaction. Mackie also could have had another goal ten minutes after his first and ten before his last when he turned well onto an Adel Taarabt pass in the area but sidefooted his finish straight at Robinson. He had been flagged offside though. Mackie broke his leg horribly on this ground in January last season, and the standard of his performances since he returned to action following that has been a credit to him. He was the one QPR player that didn’t deserve to lose this match.
Blackburn: Robinson 7, Orr 5, Hanley 6, Dann 6, Martin Olsson 7, Nzonzi 7, Lowe 6, Hoilett 7 (Henley 50, 5), Formica 7 (Modeste 66, 5), Pedersen 6, Yakubu 7 (Goodwillie 90, -)
Subs Not Used: Bunn, Petrovic, Rochina, Vukcevic
Booked: Lowe (foul)
Goals: Yakubu 15 (assisted Nzonzi), Nzonzi 23 (assisted Hoilett), Onuoha 45 og (assisted Hoilett)
QPR: Kenny 3, Onuoha 4, Ferdinand 3, Hall 3 (Gabbidon 90, -), Taiwo 4, Traore 4, Wright-Phillips 4, Barton 5, Buzsaky 3 (Mackie 66, 8), Taarabt 6, Zamora 6
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Hill, Derry , Bothroyd, Smith
Booked: Mackie (dissent)
Goals: Mackie 71 (assisted Taiwo), 90 (unassisted)
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) 7 Didn’t have a lot to referee really, got the big decision right on half time when he could easily have given a penalty against Fitz Hall but correctly recognised that he’d won the ball from Yakubu. The Mackie yellow card seemed like a typical Dean decision, a big flouncy over the top booking to make some sort of point, but we don’t know what Mackie actually said so he may have deserved it. Didn’t give QPR much, and seemed to enjoy doing it, but I’m not convinced there was much to give.
QPR 0 Chelsea 1, Saturday January 28, 2012, FA Cup
Chelsea played with nine men for a good portion of the last meeting between these sides and decided to start with just the ten here, selecting Fernando Torres as a lone striker. Because of that they rarely looked like scoring themselves in a pretty dismal encounter that would have ended 0-0 without the intervention of referee Mike Dean who will be embarrassed when he sees just how much he was conned by Daniel Sturridge, who despite his flagrant cheating really should be the man Villas Boas is building his attack around rather than his giant Spanish white elephant.
There was little time to reflect on the miss because Chelsea flew downfield and took the lead on contentious circumstances. A deep cross to the far post from Juan Matta was above and beyond Sturridge when he felt the slightest of contacts from Clint Hill at the far post. The resulting dive was laughably bad, and Hill let the Chelsea man know it as he laid on the floor appealing to the referee. Sadly for Hill and QPR Mike Dean had been taken in and awarded the penalty, peering through a crowd of players to see the incident and getting his decision badly wrong as a result. After the usual committee meeting between the referee and three or four wronged players failed to overturn the decision Mata confidently dispatched the ball beyond Paddy Kenny and into the corner of the net.
Chelsea celebrated while Mike Dean retreated to the halfway line where he found Mark Hughes waiting for him shaking his finger to signal his opinion on the matter. Dean simply shrugged, I think he knew deep down he was wrong. QPR got the benefit of the doubt on several decision in the league game, and didn’t get it here. They say things even themselves up in football and maybe they did a bit here.
It was never a penalty in a month of Sundays, anybody with half decent eyesight could tell you that. But I have to say that Clint Hill does give players the chance to do this to him. He will always put in a little needless shove, a little niggle, a little bit of contact that isn’t required. It’s part of his game, part of his wind up technique, a way to put players off their game — it’s needless but it’s the way he goes about his work. On three or four previous occasions in the game Hill had done something similar to Sturridge, absolutely nothing really and not worthy of a free kick but Sturridge had exaggerated the contact and complained to the officials about it every single time. The seed of doubt had been planted in the referee’s mind and he was watching the pair of them closer than he would have been had Hill just left him alone. On this occasion Dean was wrong, the decision was dreadful, but Hill had allowed this situation to brew prior to this incident and then he made contact (very meagre contact) with him under a cross that neither of them were ever going to reach. He gave the referee a decision to make, or rather he gave Sturridge a chance to give the referee a decision to make, and he does this quite often.
Dean is a hard referee to like given the arrogant manner he conducts himself with around the pitch, and he was in no mood for avoiding the limelight after this error. A few moments later a QPR fan in the front row threw the ball back into play in the direction of Ashley Cole, catching him flush in the back. Cole didn’t even turn around but Dean saw fit to stop the ball, call a steward out of the stand and lecture him. The steward, hilariously, then sat back down next to the supporter who’d done it and patted him on the back. Hopefully we won’t hear any more about that non-event.
QPR: Kenny 7, Hill 6, Ferdinand 7, Hall 7, Young 7, Mackie 6, Buzsaky 6 (Hulse 79, 7), Barton 6, Wright-Phillips 5, Helguson 7 (Macheda 46, 4), Smith 6
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Orr, Derry , Ephraim, Onuoha
Booked: Wright-Phillips, Hall
Chelsea: Cech 7, Ivanovic 6, Luiz 6, Terry 7, Cole 7, Meireles 6, Ramires 7 (Romeu 79, 6), Sturridge 7, Malouda 6, Mata 8 (Essien 90, -), Torres 3
Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Bosingwa, Lukaku, Cahill, Bertrand
Booked: Cole, Romeu
Goals: Mata 62 (penalty, won Sturridge)
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) 6 Will have been glad to find the game passing off as quietly as it did, with many including myself expecting a nasty bloodbath. Refereed perfectly well for the most part, but had one big decision to make in the game and got it obviously wrong. Players will continue to dive while referees are able to be conned this easily.
Coventry 0 QPR 0, Wednesday March 5, 2008, Championship
It took 18 minutes for QPR to actually get the ball down and keep it for more than five passes but just when you thought they were going to come into the game a little Coventry won a free kick from Damien Delaney and after a brief goal mouth scramble Best had a golden chance to open the scoring when Leigertwood’s wild clearance dropped at his feet eight yards out from goal — his finish into the ground sent the ball bouncing up and over the crossbar and smacked of a striker lacking confidence. His approach play was good all night, but he never once looked like hitting the back of the net even on the half hour when he raced through on goal after what looked like a foul sent Matt Connolly crashing to the floor on the edge of the centre circle. With Premiership referee Mike Dean waving play on Best strode into the area but his low shot was brilliantly saved at point blank range by Lee Camp who then led the protests to the referee with Martin Rowlands.
The rare sight of QPR on the attack was quickly erased from the memory as Connolly became the first player into referee Mike Dean’s notebook. Mifsud got the better of Delaney again and as Connolly came across the Maltese mosquito did him for pace. The former Arsenal man was forced to upend his opponent in a scything and blatantly deliberate trip that Dean had no hesitation in producing a card for.
The frustration of it was all too much for Buzsaky who, after miscontrolling the ball once again on half way, chased after Mifsud and launched into a crude lunging tackle on him right on the touchline. This incident took place in front of the only well populated area of the ground and all three Coventry fans jumped up and demanded action from Mike Dean. The referee showed Buzsaky a yellow card after taking some time out to calm the situation down — what a difference from D’Urso on Sunday who raced across red card in hand without hesitation and caused a problem for himself.
Coventry: Marshall N/A, Osbourne 6, Ward 6, Dann 6, Fox 6, Mifsud 8, Tabb 6 (Gray 75, 5), Stephen Hughes 5, Doyle 5, Thornton 8, Best 6
Subs Not Used: Konstantopoulos, Hall, Andrews, Simpson
Booked: Best (handball)
QPR: Camp 8, Mancienne 7, Hall 7, Connolly 7, Delaney 5, Buzsaky 5, Leigertwood 5, Rowlands 6 (Ainsworth 90, -), Ephraim 5, Agyemang 4 (Blackstock 85, -), Vine 5
Subs Not Used: Pickens, Barker, Stewart
Booked: Connolly (foul), Buzsaky (foul)
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) 6 - Seemed to miss a lot of fouls on QPR players, particularly the one on Connolly that allowed Best through on goal in the first half, but overall not too bad. No complaints over any of the bookings.
Chelsea 1 QPR 0, Saturday January 5, 2008, FA Cup
Chelsea had the first chance of the half when Mikel collapsed theatrically under minimal contact from the excellent Martin Rowlands and won a free kick — Mike Dean’s only poor decision of the game in my opinion. Alex stepped up from fully 40 yards and although he beat the wall the shot was never going to seriously trouble Camp and he gathered easily.
Fitz Hall became the first and only player to enter the referee’s book for a crude lunge on Shaun Wright Phillips after indecision by Chris Barker had let the winger in behind him. Wright Phillips was replaced by Cole moments later but didn’t appear to be carrying any lasting damage from the tackle.
Chelsea: Hilario 7, Ferreira 8, Ben-Haim 7, Alex 7, Ashley Cole 6, Wright-Phillips 5 (Joe Cole 79, 6), Obi 6, Sidwell 8, Sinclair 5 (Drogba 60, 6), Kalou 6, Pizarro 7 (Ballack 71, 7)
Subs Not Used: Taylor, Belletti
Goals: Camp 28 og (assisted Pizarro)
QPR: Camp 7, Hall 8, Stewart 8, Barker 7, Ainsworth 6 (Agyemang 46, 6), Connolly 8, Mahon 8, Rowlands 8, Ephraim 6 (Balanta 65, 6), Blackstock 6, Buzsaky 6 (Lee 50, 7)
Subs Not Used: Bolder, Walton
Booked: Hall (foul)
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) 9 - An almost faultless display with just one free kick given for a foul on Mikel that I would question. Allowed the game to flow, only showed one card. Great stuff.
Prior to that he refereed our 3-0 defeat at Palace in December 2006 booking Kevin Gallen and Zesh Rehman in the process, and then you have to go all the way back to the opening day of the 1999/00 season when we beat Huddersfield 3-1 at Loftus Road for his next QPR appointment. The previous season he’d sent off Paul Murray in a typically awful performance and 3-1 defeat at Swindon Town.
Last season he showed 128 yellows and seven reds in 37 games. His biggest haul in a single game was seven yellows and a red at Tottenham’s 1-1 home draw with Chelsea in September.
The five yellows and Joey Barton red card at Man City on the final day of 2011/12 before took Dean to a final total of 148 yellows and five reds in 43 games — 3.44 cards a game. That was inflated by his biggest haul of the season - eight yellows and two reds - in the Newcastle v Sunderland derby game that he was rightly praised for his handling of. He awarded 12 penalties in the Premiership last season which is more than any other referee.
The season before he showed 147 yellows and seven reds in 43 games (3.41 a game) headlined by seven yellows as Aston Villa drew with Man Utd and six yellows and a red at Dortmund v Seville in the Europa League.
Championship Chris Foy drops down for a potentially incendiary Yorkshire-off between Huddersfield and Leeds.
League Two Stuart Attwell has Burton v Bury.
Tweet @loftforwords
Pictures — Action Images