James Linington from the Isle of Wight is the man in the middle for the Tuesday night League Cup game against Carlisle.
Referee >>> James Linington (Isle of Wight), last at Loftus Road for a home win against Watford during Easter of the 2013/14 promotion season.
Assistants >>> Dean Treleaven (West Sussex) and Nigel Lugg (Surrey)
Fourth Official >>> Ian Fissenden (Kent)
QPR: Green 7; Simpson 6 (Hoilett 72, 7), Dunne 5, Onuoha 7, Hill 6, Traore 6; Carroll 6, Barton 6, Morrison 6; Austin 6 (Henry 90+1, -), Doyle 5 (Zamora 72, 7)
Subs not used: Keane, Suk-Young, Hughes, Murphy
Goals: Barton 76 (free kick won Morrison), Austin 90 (assisted Zamora)
Bookings: Austin 85 (foul)
Watford: Almunia 6; Angella 6, Cassetti 6, Ekstrand 6; Riera 6, Abdi 6, Tozser 7, McGugan 8 (Battocchio 63, 5), Pudil 6; Deeney 7, Ranegie 6
Subs not used: Merkel, Doyley, Murray, Faraoni, Bond, Hoban
Goals: Ranegie 51 (assisted Deeney)
Bookings: Riera 51 (foul), Ranegie 57 (foul), Abdi 59 (foul)
Referee — James Linington (Isle of Wight) 8 Three quick fire Watford bookings before the hour were arguably a result of him not showing one earlier and calming down a increasingly frenetic visiting team — poor game management — but otherwise he went about his work sensibly, with a smile on his face, and didn’t get involved in the game unduly.
QPR 4 Barnsley 0, Saturday August 7, 2010, Championship
That was just one incident where Barnsley could, and indeed should, have scored. Three times they struck the post with Kenny beaten and the game still in the balance, three times they gifted QPR embarrassingly simple goals through defensive ineptitude. Two of those were penalties and just to further exacerbate the visitors’ frustrations with an inconsistent and eccentric refereeing performance they were somehow, inexplicably, denied a spot kick of their own in the second half when Fitz Hall turned LeBron James and plucked the ball out of the air with his right hand before clearing.
Barnsley’s solution to the growing threat of Taarabt was to foul him, and the Moroccan will have to put up with that on more than one occasion this season. A needlessly robust, two footed tackle by Martin Devaney ten minutes before half time was clearly designed to injure Taarabt and prevent him from inflicting any more damage and disgracefully escaped without a yellow card. It failed in its mission as well and five minutes before the break Taarabt found the key to the Barnsley door. He tricked his way into the area and then with the byline approaching collapsed under heavy pressure from Stephen Foster with referee Linington well placed to point straight to the spot. Barnsley protested vociferously, and Taarabt isn’t exactly known for staying on his feet in such situations, but the referee’s mind was made up and Foster was booked for his troubles.
That should have been that for the first half really, but Linington then added three minutes of injury time which perplexed the faithful in F Block as the trainer hadn’t been onto the field and Gorkss had left immediately for his treatment, and in that time Barnsley had two golden chances to equalise. First Faurlin was harshly penalised 45 yards out from goal after appearing to win the ball. The free kick was stood up to the back post where Paddy Kenny, under no pressure at all, completely misjudged the flight of it and dropped the ball behind him. That left Adam Hammil with an open goal and a tight angle but his header was somehow diverted onto his own post and away to safety by Helguson, who was back to defend the free kick. Kenny laid in the penalty area with his head in his hands for a minute or so, but he was trying to save face more than anything.
Mackie sent a free header straight at Steele in QPR’s first attack of the half a couple of minutes later but Barnsley were straight back on the attack after that and their travelling fans, entire team, substitutes and coaching staff rose as one to demand a penalty when Fitz Hall thrust up an arm in desperation and plucked a loose ball from the sky deep inside his own penalty area. It was an obvious spot kick, everybody in the ground saw it, but Linington waved the prolonged appeals away. The visitors seemed to be sapped of spirit by this incident and it was all Rangers thereafter.
Barnsley sent on Iain Hume, still sporting the hideous scars of a sickening clash with paid football thug Chris Morgan, but apart from dragging an early effort wide of Kenny’s post Hume seemed interested only in moaning about perceived injustices from the referee, digging out his own team mates, and ultimately hacking through the back of Adel Taarabt for which he was lucky to escape a card. Taarabt dusted himself down to deliver a perfect cross to the back post which Heidar Helguson failed to make contact with altogether when it looked easier to score.
QPR Kenny 5, Orr 7, Hall 6, Gorkss 7, Hill 7, Ephraim 7,Derry 7 (Leigertwood 79, 6), Faurlin 7, Taarabt 8 (Parker 77, 6),Helguson 7 (German 83, 5), Mackie 7
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Clarke, Connolly, Borrowdale
Booked: Orr (tripping)
Goals: Helguson 41 (penalty, assisted Taarabt), Mackie 53 (assisted Ephraim), Taarabt 63 (penalty, assisted Helguson), Hall 81 (assisted Ephraim)
Barnsley Steele 5, Hassell 2, Shackell 5, Foster 4, McEveley 2,Hammill 6 (Neumann 76, 5), Doyle 5, Lovre 5 (Butterfield 86, -),Devaney 5 (Hume 46, 6), Colace 7, Gray 6
Subs Not Used: Preece, Dickinsone, Boulding, Potter
Booked: Foster (foul, penalty concession), McEveley (professional foul)
Referee: James Linington (Isle of Wight). 5 Last time we had him for a game he got a mark of five and I said he made some rather eccentric decisions. I could just copy and paste that write up here because it was the same again. Both QPR penalties looked fair, but Barnsley should certainly have had one of their own. Of the bookings Orr’s was harsh, McEveley was lucky his wasn’t a red and both Hume and Devaney should have been at least yellow carded for their respective hacks on Taarabt.
QPR 1 Nottingham Forest 1, Saturday August 22, 2009, Championship
Helguson was involved again right on the stroke of full time as Camp came out of his area to deal with a long through ball and then very much in the style that cost him so dearly in QPR colours at Norwich the season before last when on a bit of a dribbling expedition. Time seemed to stand still as the ball, and Camp, stopped 40 yards out from goal and the keeper seemed to believe referee Linington had blown his whistle. I certainly had not heard it and neither had Helguson who executed a perfect tackle on the keeper and was then wrestled to the ground as he attempted to find the empty net from distance. With a foul and red card seemingly the only option the home crowd was immensely frustrated to see a flag now raised against Helguson for offside which, bearing in mind camp had touched the ball three times before Helguson had even tried to chase him back, seemed a little farfetched to me. No cards from the referee on the day which was a good thing but one or two of his decisions were eccentric to say the least.
QPR: Cerny 7, Ramage 6, Hall 5 (Gorkss 46, 6), Stewart 6, Borrowdale 6,Routledge 7, Leigertwood 7, Faurlin 7, Pellicori 5 (Vine 61, 5), Helguson 5,Taarabt 6 (Buzsaky 66, 6)
Subs Not Used: Heaton, Mahon, Agyemang, Connolly
Goals: Leigertwood 25 (assisted Routledge)
Nottm Forest Camp 7, Gunter 6, Morgan 6, Lynch 6 (McCleary 46, 6), Cohen 7, Chambers 6, Majewski 8, McKenna 7, Garner 6, Adebola 7 (Blackstock 71, 7),McGoldrick 7 (Tyson 75, 6)
Subs Not Used: Smith, Anderson, Earnshaw, Davies
Goals: McGoldrick 57 (assisted Adebola)
Referee: J Linington (Hampshire) 5 Some perplexing stuff at times although there were no bookings which is a positive. The most frustrating thing for me was his consistent reward of play acting — Adebola’s theatrical falls to earth became a joke as the game went on and yet he gave him a free kick every single time, likewise with Taarabt who we all know is never shy of hitting the deck. The incident with Camp and Helguson in the last minute was a poorly managed farce.
Linington started last season in harsh form, with four red cards in his first five games and five in his first ten. In the end he sent ten players off in 38 games last season, unusually high, while booking 107 — 2.815 yellows a game on average. His last Carlisle game was a 1-0 defeat at Luton on Valentine’s Day when he sent off the home team’s Luke Wilkinson.
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