Scott Duncan, who sent off Benoit Assou-Ekotto for being a lazy sod in his only previous QPR appointment, is the man in the middle for the visit of MK Dons this Saturday.
Referee >>> Scott Duncan (Northumberland)
Assistants >>> Graeme Fyvie (Tyne and Wear) and Stuart Butler (Kent)
Fourth Official >>> Charles Breakspear (Surrey)
Leicester City 1 Queens Park Rangers 0, Monday April 21, 2014, Championship
Against the Foxes he embarked on a one man mission to get Easter Monday off. Eight minutes before half time he went over the ball on Rihad Mahrez and was lucky that referee Scott Duncan only saw that as a yellow card — Karl Henry did him a big favour, holding a crowd of Leicester players at bay and calming the situation so it didn’t appear as bad as it was. Rather than make the most of his let off, the Cameroon full back launched into another ridiculous tackle midway through the second half on Andy King and trooped straight off down the tunnel with a gormless smile on his face.
He was unfortunate in three minutes of first half stoppage time to see a shot deflect just wide of Kasper Schmeichel’s post with the keeper beaten — referee Duncan mistakenly awarded a goal kick instead of a corner — and prior to that he’d been involved in a nice one two with Super Size Niko Kranjcar whose shot was parried over the bar. But mostly he was awful, dragging shots wide and interrupting moves with poor touches before his inevitable withdrawal 20 minutes from time so Bobby Zamora could have a run out.
This latest game at Leicester probably fits into the unfortunate category. Despite another weird and wonderful team selection QPR gave a good account of themselves, particularly in the first half. Niko Kranjcar’s weight gain since the start of the season has been alarming and he’s now built like a cast member from a Croatian re-make of Big Momma’s House. He too was fortunate not to be sent off — booked on the stroke of half time for a foul on Danny Drinkwater and then guilty of a late lunge every bit as daft as Assou-Ekotto’s in the second but referee Duncan didn’t even award a free kick. But he made QPR tick when they had the ball before half time and caused Leicester’s muscular but skilfully limited defence all manner of difficulties. He had an early shot deflected over, another saved by Schmeichel, and teed Maiga up for varying forms of disaster on several occasions.
The closest they came to an equaliser was Suk-Young lobbing a through ball towards an empty goal as Kasper Schmiechel charged towards him. The ball bounced wide but referee Duncan, perhaps a little harshly given that the keep made an honest play for a loose ball, brought play back, booked Schmeichel and awarded a free kick that Kranjcar struck into the wall.
Leicester: Schmeichel 7; De Laet 6, Morgan 6, Wasilewski 7, Schlupp 6 (Moore 77, 6); Hammond 6 (James 67, 6), King 6, Drinkwater 7, Mahrez 7; Nugent 7, Knockaert 6 (Dyer 68, 6)
Subs not used: Taylor-Fletcher, Logan, Phillips, Wood
Goals: Nugent 67 (assisted Drinkwater)
Bookings: Schmeichel 72 (foul)
QPR: Green 6; Simpson 6, Onuoha 7, Hughes 6, Assou-Ekotto 4; Henry 6, O’Neil 5; Benayoun 6 (Wright-Phillips 46, 5), Kranjcar 7 (Morrison 82, -), Suk-Young 6; Maiga 4 (Zamora 72, 6)
Subs not used: Dunne, Keane, Murphy, Donaldson
Red Cards: Assou-Ekotto 77 (two yellows)
Bookings: Assou-Ekotto 38 (foul), Kranjcar 44 (foul), O’Neil 56 (foul), Assou-Ekotto 77 (foul)
Referee — Scott Duncan (Northumberland) 7 I liked him. QPR could certainly have no complaints about the Assou-Ekotto sending off, and in fact he was very generous with Niko Kranjcar who could also have been red carded so a point off for that. He was calm, not swayed by player reaction, gave himself time to think, got the big decisions right.
Ominously, no red cards for Duncan in his ten appointments so far this season. Just the 28 yellows too, a low average, topped by the five he handed out at Blackburn v Cardiff back in August. This is only his third Championship appointment of the season.
Low averages again last season with 83 yellows and just three reds shown across 36 games. In fact he showed a single card or fewer in five of his last seven games of the season. His last MK Dons appointment was their 5-1 thrashing of Yeovil in May.
Premier League >>> A weekend of grudge matches. Mark Clattenburg a fairly standard appointment for the Manchester derby. Robert Madley a left-field call for Sunderland v Newcastle.
Championship >>> Stuart Attwell has Charlton v Brentford.
League One >>> Andy Haines, fresh from winning QPR a point on Tuesday, has the other Sheffield club this weekend as United host Millwall.
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Pictures — Action Images