Just a month after awarding a controversial late penalty in our game at Blackburn, Peter Bankes is back in charge of Rangers on Saturday at Leeds.
Referee >>> Peter Bankes (Merseyside), two QPR appointments and two defeats so far this season.
Assistants >>> Tim Wood (Gloucestershire) and Darren Blunden (Kent)
Fourth Official >>> Seb Stocksbridge (Tyne and Wear)
Blackburn 1 QPR 0, Saturday November 3, 2018, Championship
The first half was a mixture of mistakes, weird refereeing and occasional pieces of neat play, which always seemed to fall to pieces in the final thirds. Wells managed to chip the ball into the crowd from an inviting range and a good strike from Freeman seemed to hit the bar with the keeper a mere spectator. It really was turning into a tediously dull Championship encounter with neither side deserving much more than nil, so a scoreless first half was a fair reflection on what was on offer.
At least the referee was making things interesting, as he seemed to be going around guessing at decisions with no consistency other than that of being consistently bewildering to all who were watching. He blew for fouls that didn’t look like offenses and obviously the opposite when it did; and heaven only know what was going on with Bidwell foul throw or not foul throw situation, it was all just a bit odd and obviously didn’t improve, for us anyway, in the second half. In total yellow cards were handed out without a bad foul in the entire game, including one to Luongo after just four minutes. It seemed Mr Bankes’ ambition was to confuse and frustrate; he clearly succeeded.
Leinster really didn’t deserve to be on the losing side, but with the game drifting towards the inevitable bore draw, Mr Guessit stepped up to provide some excitement. From the back of the stand, at the wrong end of the ground, Scowen’s challenge on Brereton looked a concerning one thought the linesman standing nearby and looking right at it didn’t seem to have a problem with it. No-one around me was really surprised when Guessit pointed to the spot. I haven’t seen a reply, but I’ve heard conflicting views and it doesn’t really matter. Preston or Blackburn, it doesn’t really matter, we just knew something would go wrong late on and it did. Dack stepped up and Lumley dived out of the way of what would’ve been a routine save, if he’d been braver for a fraction of a second. It’s so frustrating, how many penalties would be saved if the keepers didn’t move so early? This one was just off centre and at a really comfortable height for a goalie; an easy save which would’ve prevented Dack celebrating like he’d won the World Cup. The Blackburn fans finally came to life and we were treated to a couple of renditions of "We are on our way back.” A huge, miss-informed exaggeration if ever I’ve heard one. They are a completely ordinary Championship side who will finish mid table, meaning more joyless visits to this dreary place for us, as you can be bloody certain we aren’t going anywhere either; well not upwards anyway.
Blackburn: Leutwiler N/A, Bennett 6, Lenihan 7, Williams 7, Bell 6, Smallwood 6 (Palmer 63 5), Evans 7, Reed 6, Dack 7, Armstong 5 (Brereton 80), Graham 5 (Rothwell 74 5)
Unused subs: Nyambe, Rodwell, Conway, Fisher
Goals: Dack 86 (penalty won Brereton)
Bookings: Reed 19 (foul), Smallwood 33 (foul), Evans 56 (foul), Brereton 90+4 (foul)
QPR: Lumley 5; Rangel 6 (Furlong 87, -), Leistner 7, Lynch 6, Bidwell 6; Scowen 6 (Chair 88, -)
Luongo 5; Wszolek 5, Eze 5 (Smith 76, 4), Freeman 5; Wells 5
Unused subs: Ingram, Hall, Cousins, Osayi-Samuels
Bookings: Luongo 4 (foul), Eze 51 (foul), Leistner 66 (foul), Freeman 90+5 (foul)
Referee: Peter Bankes (Merseyside) 4 A horribly infuriating official, who badly handled an easy game. I would hate to see him in charge of a tougher fixture. Everyone in the ground was confused by so much of what he did. The assistant was very close to the penalty incident and gave nothing but I wasn’t surprised when it was given.
QPR 0 Bristol City 3, Tuesday August 21, 2018, Championship
QPR: Ingram 3; Rangel 4 (Sylla 76, 5), Leistner 4, Baptiste 5, Bidwell 3; Scowen 4, Luongo 3 (Cousins 60, 4); Eze 4, Freeman 3, Wszolek 4 (Smith 60, 4); Washington 3
Subs not used: Lumley, Chair, Kakay, Smyth
Bookings: Scowen 56 (foul)
Bristol City: Maenpaa 6; Hunt 7, Pisano 7, Webster 7, Kelly 6; Watkins 6 (O’Dowda 76, 6), Brownhill 7, Pack 7, Eliasson 7; Taylor 8 (Eisa 90+1, -), Weimann 8
Subs not used: Dasilva, Walsh, Paterson, Moore, O’Leary
Goals: Taylor 41 (assisted Brownhill), Weimann 50 (assisted Eliasson), 90 (assisted Brownhill)
Bookings: Pisano 26 (foul), Brownhill 48 (foul), Pack 70 (foul)
Referee — Peter Bankes (Merseyside) 7 Much like Saturday, decent refereeing in a non-competitive game although as in the Preston and Sheff Utd games did nothing to clamp down on late gamesmanship designed to run the clock down other than point at his watch, then didn’t add on the time at the end. It seems now that every Championship side, once leading in the last 20 minutes, is trained to engage in this injury feigning, time wasting shithousery and unless the referees get wise and strong to it it’s going to fester.
QPR 1 Fulham 2, Friday September 29, 2017, Championship
In the first quarter of an hour alone Sheyi Ojo took the long way around Jack Robinson and shot wide, then Idrissa Sylla (finally given a start up front with Jamie Mackie) chested down and volleyed over from an offside position, then Luke Freeman shot wide after good approach work from Scowen, then Scowen himself shot wide, then Stefan Johansen shot into the side netting after Joel Lynch was caught flat footed. QPR unlucky not to be ahead, fortunate not to be behind, and nursing a yellow card from a very harsh refereeing call against Massimo Luongo.
Luongo had a shot blocked, a shot saved wide, and a cut back fumbled by Button provoking a scramble. After three fairly obvious fouls had been waved away in quick succession referee Peter Bankes awarded a foul on the Australian on the edge of the box against Fredericks and Freeman struck the set piece wide with the keeper beaten.
And if you think that’s fucking stupid, then there’s Joel Lynch. Just back, probably rushed back, from injury, you could probably forgive a tired lapse in concentration seven minutes from time when he tried to trap a ball that should have just been cleared, ended up conceding possession to Fulham sub Neeskens Kebano and then ran after him into the penalty box, fouled him and conceded a spot kick. You could also — even though it was shambolic, even though it was moronic, even though it was a situation entirely of his own making an execution — perhaps forgive him for getting up and screaming (as he always does) abuse at Jake Bidwell, who’d had rock all to do with any of it. Because this is Fulham, and Fulham don’t score penalties, so there wasn’t much to worry about — Fonte stuck this one clean over the bar, the fourth spot kick missed by the Whites against QPR in the last three meetings.
So you start to make peace with it then don’t you? Half the crowd makes an early exit, the Fulham fans do their little "it’s happening again” chant, you accept the defeat and start bracing yourself for Bolton’s inevitable first win of the season on the other side of the international break. Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme. Except that, for once, a referee had taken account of the time wasting, and the injuries, and everything else, and added nine minutes. And, for once, Conor Washington was in the right place at the right time to bumble one into the net from close range right at the start of it, so suddenly it’s 1-2 with time to spare. Luke Freeman looked like he was going to score off the kick off, only for Button to thwart him one on one; Matt Smith had a header cleared from the goal line by a combination of two defenders, Luongo had a shot blocked, Scowen had a shot blocked. Fulham, now, clinging on. QPR, now, rampant.
QPR: Smithies 6; Baptiste 6, Robinson 7, Lynch 4, Bidwell 5; Scowen 6, Luongo 6, Freeman 6; Wszolek 6 (Smith 60, 5), Mackie 6 (Washington 76, 6), Sylla 7 (Wheeler 84, -)
Subs not used: Furlong, Lumley, Manning, Osayi Samuel
Goals: Washington 90+2 (assisted Smith)
Bookings: Luongo 17 (foul), Mackie 22 (foul), Lynch 82 (foul)
Fulham: Button 6; Fredericks 8, Kalas 6, Ream 6, Sessegnon 7; Norwood 6, McDonald 6, Johansen 6; Ojo 6 (Kebano 55, 6), Fonte 6 (Cisse 90+4, -), Mollo 6 (Odoi 62, 6)
Subs not used: Bettinelli, Madl, Graham, Djalo
Goals: Robinson og 41 (assisted Fredericks), Johansen 85 (assisted Fonte)
Bookings: Norwood 63 (repetitive fouling), Fredericks 65 (foul), Button 87 (time wasting)
Referee — Peter Bankes (Merseyside) 6 Put pressure on himself by booking Luongo so early for so little, then ended up letting loads of worse stuff go after that. But otherwise I thought he was pretty decent. Holloway, and others, felt the penalty was a dive but it looked absolutely nailed on to me at the time — referee only gets one look. Nice to see a referee actually adding adequate time to a half with injuries and time wasting rather than just doing the standard two minutes first half four minutes second half regardless of what’s happened.
Aston Villa 1 QPR 0, Tuesday April 4, 2017, Championship
Aston Villa: Johnstone 6, Hutton 6, Chester 6, Baker 6, Taylor 6, Jedinak 7, Lansbury 7, Bacuna 6, Adomah 6 (Hogan 77, 6), Amavi 7 (Green 85, -) Kodjia 6 (Elphick 90, -)
Subs not used: Hourihane, Bree, Bunn, Grealish
Goal: Kodjia 5 (assisted Bacuna)
Yellow Card: Kodjia 87 (foul)
QPR: Smithies 6, Bidwell 6, Onouha 6, Hall 5, Furlong 6 (Petrasso 75, 5), Mackie 6, Freeman 7, Luongo 8, Goss 6 (Washington 72, 6) N’Gbakoto 6, Sylla 5 (Smith 64, 6)
Subs not used: Ingram, Wszolek, Perch, Manning
Yellow Card: Mackie 23 (foul)
Referee — Peter Bankes (Merseyside) 7 I sit near a guy at HQ who only ever comes alive in a game to berate the referee, irrespective of how well or badly QPR are playing or what else has gone on during the game. So, if he is silent for 90 minutes, the ref has done well. After many years, I can sense when a ref would cause him to explode and I’m pleased to say that Mr Bankes did not cross that threshold. Generally unfussy and only two cards in a competitive game. Took at least two opportunities to keep his cards in his pocket in favour of a quiet word in the aftermath of robust, but genuine, challenges.
QPR 1 Huddersfield 2, Saturday February 11, 2017, Championship
If the first goal was sub-standard defensively, you couldn’t help but admire the sheer quality of the second. Luongo had already been let off without a booking when he really should have seen yellow from referee Peter Bankes as QPR struggled to hang onto Town’s coat tails when the visitors collected the ball deep in their own half, by their own corner flag. Comfortable and confident on the ball, led from the back by Michael Hefele the Terriers started to pass the ball. And they kept passing it with increasing intensity, pace and purpose. Each one completed was cheered by the travelling support, each one completed put QPR in further trouble. Zulus, thousands of them, sweeping down the field, forcing the issue, twisting the knife. Hefele’s ball to van la Parra down the right was key, Kachunga might have been slightly fortunate that his mishit turn back inside fell perfectly for Nahki Wells but the finish was emphatic and you’ll struggle to see a better looking, more thoughtfully constructed goal at this level this season.
Huddersfield started to rock a little. They’d have been facing a sixty eighth minute penalty if referee Bankes had had his way: Smith hauled down underneath a wide free kick, the official pointing straight to the spot, the linesman spoiling the party by correctly identifying the QPR target man had — for reasons I can’t understand — gone miles too soon and run offside. A minute later Smith connected brilliantly with Washington’s cut back — Ward equal to it with a brilliant save in the top corner.
Manning’s seventieth minute free kick was illegally blocked by a hand in the wall. Brown was yellow carded for his complaints about the distance his team mates were marched back from the second set piece. Lua Lua drilled the second effort into the crowd rather than the net. The Brighton loanee must have thought he’d scored when he connected brilliantly with a low shot from 20 yards out after a corner was cleared but despite the ball flying straight and true through a crowd of some 20 players, Ward somehow kept an eye on it and produced the save of the game with his legs. Hall’s soft touch and delicate chipped cross looked like it might give Smith a chance to head in at the back post. Another scramble saw Ward save from Washington.
It was like the Alamo. Bankes added seven minutes to an eminently watchable encounter, and played nearer nine, but QPR couldn’t find a way through a second time. Twice they appealed for penalties — the first for a push on Washington maybe worth a second look, the second for handball as the ball flicked up off a slack touch and onto the arm of a Huddersfield man would have been harsh for me.
QPR: Smithies 6; Wzsolek 6 (Ngbakoto 80, -), Perch 6, Onuoha 5, Bidwell 5 (Lua Lua 53, 6); Hall 6, Manning 6, Luongo 5; Mackie 5 (Freeman 53, 7), Smith 7, Washington 6
Subs not used: Goss, Ingram, Furlong, Sylla
Goals: Freeman 60 (unassisted)
Bookings: Manning 45+1 (foul), Hall 58 (foul), Luongo 85 (foul)
Huddersfield: Ward 8; Cranie 6 (Smith 80, -), Hefele 7, Schindler 6, Lowe 6; Mooy 7, Hogg 6 (Billing 20, 8); Kachunga 6, Brown 8, van la Parra 6 (Lolley 79, 6); Wells 7
Subs not used: Payne, Quaner, Stankovic, Coleman
Bookings: Brown 62 (dissent)
Referee — Peter Bankes (Merseyside) 7 I thought he was pretty good, despite QPR’s vociferous second half penalty appeals for a push on Washington and a hand ball. The one that was a spot kick he gave, only to find Matt Smith had already been flagged offside. Bookings correct, game controlled pretty well until the final few minutes when he made a few dodgy calls in midfield. Perhaps a little generous with Aaron Mooy, but to be honest that’s just part of Mooy’s game and QPR could do with a couple of players like him themselves.
QPR 1 Sunderland 2, Wednesday September 21, 2016, League Cup Third Round
QPR: Ingram 6; Kakay 6, Caulker 6, Lynch 7, Hamalainen 5; Sandro 6, Cousins 6 (Chery 85, -); Wzsolek 6, El Khayati 4, Washington 6 (Luongo 79, 6); Sylla 7 (Polter 74, 5)
Subs Not Used: Smithies, Onuoha, Borysiuk, Paul
Goals: Sandro 60 (assisted Lynch)
Sunderland: Pickford 6; Denayer 5 (Love 69, 6), O’Shea 6, Djilobodji 6, van Aanholt 6; NDong 8, Kirchhoff 6, McNair 8, Gooch 5 (Cattermole 69, 7); Watmore 6, Asoro 5 (Maja 69, 7)
Subs not used: Jones, Mika, Kone, Greenwood
Goals: McNair 70 (assisted Watmore), 80 (assisted NDong)
Referee — Peter Bankes (Merseyside) 8 Excellent for almost the whole game, letting a fairly wild encounter run its bumbling course unchecked to the benefit of the neutrals. Seemed to lose the plot a bit in injury time, having only added three minutes to the end of the game he then didn’t really seem to know what to do about Sunderland intentionally running down all of that with several spurious injuries. Overall though, very decent indeed.
QPR 1 Leeds United 0, Saturday November 28, 2015, Championship
Ale Faurlin was exemplary in the middle of the midfield, but a seventh minute free kick booted off towards Acton after Hoilett had been felled by Liam Bridcutt — the Sunderland loanee was booked on his debut — wasn’t his finest hour. Nor was Hoilett’s header straight up in the air on the half hour after a good cross from Paul Konchesky — even lesser spotted than QPR youth team players in the first team. Nor was Robert Green inexplicably deciding to come charging 40 yards away from his goal to try, and fail, to intercept a straightforward Leeds punt down the field leaving Chris Wood to stride round him but take too long over the finish to exploit the open goal.
The teams both had similar penalty appeals waved away by referee Peter Bankes either side of half time. Hoilett seemed to have been clearly pushed under a Konchesky cross for the first, Wood likewise for the second, but neither were awarded.
QPR: Green 5; Perch 6, Onuoha 7, Hall 7, Konchesky 6; Petrasso 6 (Austin 57, 7), Sandro 7, Faurlin 8, Yun 6 (Chery 57, 7), Hoilett 7 (Henry 89, -), Phillips 6
Subs not used: Luongo, Smithies, Angella, Tozser
Goals: Austin 58 (assisted Faurlin)
Leeds: Silvestri 7; Wootton 5, Belusci 5, Cooper 5, Taylor 5; Mowatt 6 (Botaka 67, 5), Bridcutt 6, Cook 6, dallas 6; Antenucci 5 (Erwin 80, -), Wood 4
Subs not used: Byram, Murphy, Doukara, Adeyemi, Peacock-Farrell
Booked: Bridcutt 6 (foul), Wootton 35 (foul), Cook 82 (foul)
Referee — Peter Bankes (Merseyside) 7 At the time I thought the Junior Hoilett penalty appeal looked a stick on, but I haven’t seen it back. Thought his time keeping was intriguing — two minutes added to the end of a first half when Dallas had been down for twice that by himself, then four minutes in the second despite a lack of injuries and goals. But overall, pretty decent - kept control nicely, not a lot of cards, good advantage played at times.
Wolves 2 Queens Park Rangers 3, Wednesday August 19, 2015, Championship
It took a quarter of an hour for the first goal to arrive. Matt Phillips thought he should have had a free kick down the QPR left but referee Peter Bankes, rightly, said no and the home team broke away down their right. James Henry's cross was deflected by Paul Konchesky and the ball fell to Afobe on the six yard line who took one touch and then dispatched it into the bottom corner.
The travelling faithful in the side stand feared Ramsey's Cardiff experience had made him timid with his substitutions. Faurlin seemed to be blowing hard. Bankes booked Nedum Onuoha for the tackle of the match on the hour and Green, having stood so far off to his right he was closer to the corner flag than his left hand post, was nowhere close to getting back across to Afobe's free kick as it flew over the wall and, mercifully, into the side netting. Henry was also booked on his return to the club he supports — a sensible, cynical, tactical foul as Wolves threatened another counter.
Bankes added five extra minutes, seemingly because he was enjoying the game so much rather than because there had been a load of substitutions or injuries in the second half (there hadn't) but there was to be no last-second heartbreak for Rangers this time and the players celebrated on the pitch with their manager at full time.
Wolves: Martinez 3; Iorfa 6, Stearman 6, Hause 5, Golbourne 6; Henry 7 (Van La Parra 63, 6), Coady 6, McDonald 7, Edwards 7; Afobe 8, Dicko 7 (Le Fondre 46, 5)
Subs not used: Ikeme, Price, Doherty, Ojo, Ebanks-Landell
Goals: Afobe 17 (assisted Henry/Edwards), McDonald 24 (unassisted)
Bookings: Hause 45 (foul), Le Fondre 74 (foul), Coady 90+4 (foul)
QPR: Green 7; Perch 6, Hall 6, Onuoha 6, Konchesky 5; Faurlin 7 (Polter 89, -), Henry 7; Luongo 8, Chery 8 (Doughty 78, 7), Phillips 8; Austin 7
Subs not used: Hill, Gladwin, Lumley, Emmanuel-Thomas, Hoilett
Goals: Austin 38 (assisted Phillips), Phillips 52 (assisted Luongo), 72 (assisted Luongo)
Bookings: Onuoha 60 (foul), Henry 64 (foul)
Referee — Peter Bankes (Merseyside) 7 Thought he got the Onuoha booking badly wrong, that looked a good tackle to me, and where on earth he got five minutes at the end from when the second half had three substitutions, three goals and no injuries I don't know. Overall though, pretty decent.
A very hefty 75 yellow cards (4.4) from 17 appointments so far this season for Bankes, a total which includes 12 at Brentford 2-1 Forest, and two hauls of eight at Rotherham 1-0 Frank Lampard’s Derby County and Blackburn 1-0 QPR. Just the two reds though, including one in that Rotherham game. He’s refereed Leeds twice, showing six yellows on each occasion, in a 4-1 win at Frank Lampard’s Derby County and a 2-1 home defeat to Birmingham City.
Last season he finished with eight reds and 156 yellows in 42 games (3.71 bookings a game), led by seven yellows handed out in Norwich’s 3-1 home win against Aston Villa. His last Blackburn appointment was a 1-0 win at Bradford City in League One last August. In 2016/17 he showed 127 yellows and 12 reds in 38 games, including four yellows and a red when Fulham lost 4-0 at home to Bristol City which was his last appointment with the Whites and would be most welcome as a repeat on Friday.
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