QPR have Championship regular Tim Robinson in charge of one of their games for the first time in the league this season when they face Blackburn at Loftus Road on Good Friday.
Referee >>> Tim Robinson (West Sussex), second QPR appointment this season following the earlier League Cup exit at Blackpool.
Assistants >>> Ian Cooper (Kent) and Adrian Waters (Herts)
Fourth Official >>> Charles Breakspear (Surrey)
Blackpool 2 QPR 0, Tuesday September 25, 2018, League Cup Third Round
The only thing we were good at was fouling and getting booked. Scowen was the chief culprit here, but did manage to avoid a booking until his third offence. By his fourth, inside the first 20 minutes, there was a problem. He should’ve been sent off and much to the fury of the Blackpool management and fans referee Tim Robinson let him off and he was quickly substituted before he did commit inevitable offence number five and receive a red card. Scowen himself was deeply miffed at being withdrawn, refusing to shake hands with his replacement Goss, and then booted a water bottle before disappearing down the tunnel. And he was one of the senior players in the team.
Scowen’s removal left the hapless Cousins in charge of the midfield alongside the hopeless Goss and Blackpool, led ably by Jay Spearing, never looked back. They quickly took the lead from a corner which Ingram only half cleared with a weak punch. It was headed back into the danger zone, where Gnanduillet hooked skilfully home. Ingram had already made two smart saves by this point and it’s a shame that this mistake led to the goal as he alone could remotely hold his head up by the end of the game. That said his kicking is still very iffy. Chair was booked for petulance, Cousins and Kakay were booked for fouls as the half petered away along with QPR’s discipline.
Well the linesman gave a throw-in to Blackpool when it was clearly to us, he then dropped his flag. Cousins was rightly sent off, losing the plot and earning a second yellow for a pathetic case of handbags after a nothing challenge on halfway that came after he and Goss had left a ball to each other and lost possession. Perhaps he too was tired of his own ineptitude and just wanted to leave the field.
Blackpool: Howard N/A; Nottingham 8, Henegan 7, Tilt 6, Bola 7; Spearing 8, Guy 6 (Turton 77, -), McLaughlin 7 (O Sullivan 85, -) Thompson 6; Dodoo 6, Gnanduillet 8 (Delfouneso 83, -)
Subs not used: O’Connor, Cullen, Feeney, Mafoumbi.
Bookings: Tilt 56 (foul)
QPR: Ingram 5; Kakay 4, Hall 4, Baptiste 4, Hamalainen 3; Osayi-Samuel 4 (Oteh 77, 3), Scowen 2 (Goss 25, 3), Cousins 2, Wszolek 3; Chair 3 (Smyth 46, 3); Smith 3
Subs not used: Owens, Dalling, Brzozowski, Omar
Red Cards: Cousins 70 (two bookings)
Bookings: Scowen 20 (repetitive fouling), Kakay 22 (foul), Chair 34 (tantrum), Cousins 39 (foul), Cousins 70 (rank stupidity)
Referee: Tim Robinson 7 Can be pedantic but no issues here despite a flurry of cards for QPR players. Every card looked justified and was a bit lenient with Scowen. Blackpool didn’t need to waste time as they knew we were no danger.
Aston Villa 1 QPR 3, Tuesday March 18, 2018, Championship
Villa: Johnstone 5; El Mohamady 5, Terry 4, Chester 6, Taylor 5 (Davis 56, 5); Jedinak 4, Hourihane 5 (Bjarnison 81, -); Adomah 6, Grealish 6, Snodgrass 4; Grabban 5 (Hogan 67, 5)
Subs not used: Lansbury, Bree, Onomah, Bunn
Goals: Chester 90+1 (assisted Snodgrass)
Bookings: Grealish 90+2 (fighting)
QPR: Smithies 8; Furlong 8, Onuoha 7, Lynch 7, Bidwell 8; Wszolek 7 (Perch 72, 6), Scowen 8, Luongo 7, Manning 8 (Cousins 74, 6); Eze 8 (Freeman 79, 7); Smith 7
Subs not used: Washington, Baptiste, Ingram, Osayi-Samuel
Goals: Manning 12 (assisted Bidwell), Bidwell 33 (assisted Wszolek), Freeman 82 (assisted Furlong)
Bookings: Lynch 59 (foul), Bidwell 90+2 (foul)
Referee — Tim Robinson 8 Dodgy old linesman on our side struggled to keep up with play and came up with some random ones as a result but Robinson, who’s usually a right pedantic arsehole and awarded four penalties at Hull v Norwich at the weekend, was very good here, albeit in a one-sided game.
QPR 2 Cardiff 1, Monday January 1, 2018, Championship
By half time you’d rather have been anywhere else in the world (apart from South Bermondsey) and the start of the second half only deepened the depression. The sides had traded half chances — Jordan Cousins, looking decent down the right until given a sight of the goal, miscontrolled a chance from close range; then Onuoha produced a vital block in his own six-yard box to steer a goalbound Zohore shot round the post. But in truth it felt like a game heading for a 0-0 draw until referee Tim Robinson intervened.
Seven minutes after half time, cross to the back post, Bidwell turns to follow it, Paterson collapses to the ground, penalty given. Total bollocks. Insufferable bullshit.
It reminded me of a spot kick given in almost exactly the same spot many years ago by David Ellery against Karl Ready when we were playing Spurs. That night a deep cross was sailing well past the goalmouth and out to the far side and as Ready turned to follow it out there Teddy Sheringham embarrassingly threw himself over the back of the defender. Ellery obliged, Spurs scored, Rangers from 2-0 up lost 3-2. This, too, from Paterson, was a flagrant dive. Cheating. A man whose frame suggests he didn’t so much indulge in too much Christmas shortbread as buy a metric ton of the stuff and try to eat himself to death, apparently absolutely poleaxed and sent crashing to earth by the most minimal of contact from Bidwell. A load of rubbish from a crap referee, who’d already waved away a more convincing penalty appeal by the visitors in the eleventh minute and later said no to an actual push by Alex Baptiste that prevented a goal and was an absolute stone waller. Robinson marrying the usual pedantry, pickiness and endless terminal discussions with players about nothing very much at all that we’ve come to expect from him with rank incompetence throughout this match.
Joe Ralls, Cardiff’s best player, converted. Maybe we shouldn’t have made such a big deal of Alex Smithies’ penalty exploits a year ago — he hasn’t got near any of the last five he’s faced now.
Shortly after that Cardiff were forced to remove Lee Peltier because of injury. The former Huddersfield full back’s odyssey from the centre circle to the touchline included a handshake with the referee, and two of his team mates, and a wave to the crowd, and the swapping of the captain’s arm band. At one stage I thought he was going to embark on a full lap of honour and sign autographs, which rather suggested Cardiff were going to try and snap their losing streak by grinding this one out. You couldn’t blame them for that but if it had continued for any length of time, with confidence already low among the QPR players, the atmosphere non-existent, an absolute joystick refereeing and goals hard to come by then it’s pretty easy to imagine that frustration would have festered and another game would have drifted away.
Luckily Rangers equalised very quickly, although even Matt Smith’s highly basic leveller - heading straight in from one of Robinson’s long throws - did little to stir anything much more than apathy. How a Cardiff side with Bruno Manga, Sol Bamba, Matt Connolly, shortbread enthusiast Paterson and Kenneth Zohore in it lost a header all afternoon, never mind conceded a goal from one, is beyond me but there it was, credit to Smith for a good finish and Robinson for a monster throw in. One one, the first a dreadful bit of refereeing, the second Championship 1.1.
To be fair, as the teams emerged it looked even more ridiculous. Smyth, weighing about six stone, looked like a pale little boy on his first day at the big school, ripe for Bamba, Manga and Connolly the playground bullies. A more physically imposing and experienced Championship back three you’d struggle to find anywhere in the division this season. Bamba looks like a man who left the coathanger in his shirt, Smyth looked like something he might have for his elevenses. But it says much for Smyth’s spiky approach to the task, and the quality of the refereeing, that the debutant was repeatedly warned for niggling, annoying, needling and bullying the world’s biggest human being. Fearless little git as it turns out, all done with a happy expression of angelic innocence.
And there was the equaliser that wasn’t too. Hoilett would have loved nothing more than his eighty-third-minute shot under Smithies and into the net to have counted, but a late linesman flag, and Smithies tapping him on his shoulder, interrupted a dance under the jubilant away fans. Referee Tim Robinson came across and spoke with his assistant for what seemed like an age about whether the ball had actually been played into Hoilett’s path by Josh Scowen, which it had, although Scowen had pretty obviously been fouled anyway. So it was either a goal, or a QPR free kick on the edge of the area. In keeping with everything else he’d done since 15.00, the referee got it wrong, and disallowed it for offside after all. Neil Warnock fumed so hard he crashed into the dugout on his way off at full time while haranguing the officials.
QPR: Smithies 7; Baptiste 8, Onuoha 6, Robinson 7; Cousins 7, Bidwell 6 (Lynch 84, -); Scowen 6, Luongo 6, Freeman 7; Smyth 8 (Oteh 77, 7), Smith 6
Subs not used: Wszolek, Lumley, Chair, Oseyi-Samuel, Sylla
Goals: Smith 62 (assisted Robinson), Smyth 72 (assisted Smith)
Yellows: Smyth 70 (repetitive fouling), Freeman 90+3 (foul)
Cardiff: Murphy 5; Manga 6, Bamba 6, Connolly 5; Peltier 6 (Damour 58, 6), Paterson 6, Ralls 7, Bennett 6; Healey 6 (Mendez-Laing 67, 6), Hoilett 7, Zohore 6
Subs not used: Richards, Tomlin, Pilkington, Halford, Etheridge
Goals: Ralls 54 (penalty — won Paterson)
Yellows: Connolly 18 (foul), Peltier 50 (foul)
Referee — Tim Robinson (West Sussex) 3 Not a referee I’ve ever particularly got on with — the pedantry, the long drawn out conversations with players, the fetish for awarding free kicks to the defending team under every set piece, the heavy card count and more besides all contribute to bitty, stop-start, niggly games which are dreadful to watch and seemingly very frustrating to play in. There was all of that here, as usual, but this time he married it up with a series of dreadful calls with the big decision. The Cardiff penalty is a joke, an obvious dive under minimal contact, a clear and successful attempt to con the officials. Worse still, later in the game with QPR hanging on Alex Baptiste did actually shove his man in the area just as he looked set to make it 2-2 from close range and nothing was given. The Cardiff disallowed goal could have been waved off for a foul on Scowen, but not for offside (which is what they eventually gave) as it was Scowen that played the ball. Just about the only thing he did get right all afternoon was the late offside free kick which Cardiff took in the QPR half to much protest from the South Africa Road stand — new rule this year kids, if you retreat from an offside position the free kick is taken from where you touch the ball not where you start. Overall, bit of a catastrophe.
Nottingham Forest 4 QPR 0, Saturday November 4, 2017, Championship
Furlong on, Scowen dropping deeper, is a change that could have been made as early as the twentieth minute, when the score was only 1-0 but it was clear Rangers were starting to have a problem. Ian Holloway, a manager of huge experience and with several promotions on his CV, would tell me, some nobody who works in an office, I don’t know what I’m talking about but by the time changes were made, at half time, it was already 2-0. And when they did come, they were like-for-like swaps — Matt Smith, who isn’t as mobile or as big a goal threat as Idrissa Sylla, came on for the Guinean, and Jamie Mackie, who doesn’t have the craft or goal threat of David Wheeler, replaced the former Exeter man. Smith should have had a penalty when the shirt was lifted clean off his back just before the hour, referee Tim Robinson wasn’t interested despite the bare torso offering an obvious clue, and Mackie should have made it 2-1 with a diving header from close range straight after coming on. But the substitutions didn’t address the problems Forest were causing the system and consequently they continued to tear QPR apart all the way through the second half. Sneaking Yeni Ngbakoto on for Luke Freeman later in the day, again, added nothing to Rangers going forwards and didn’t solve any of their problems defensively.
Forest: Smith 6; Lichaj 6, Worrall 6, Mancienne 7, Traore 6; Bridcutt 7, Osborn 8; Walker 8, Dowell 9 (Bouchalakis 77, 6), McKay 8 (Ward 86, -); Murphy 7 (Carayol 85, -)
Subs not used: Mills, Clough, Henderson, Cummings
Goals: Walker 15 (assisted Dowell), Dowell 44 (assisted Osborn), McKay 52 (assisted Osborn), Walker 84 (assisted McKay)
Yellows: Walker 73 (foul)
QPR: Smithies 5; Baptiste 3, Lynch 5, Robinson 3; Wheeler 5 (Mackie 45, 4), Bidwell 5; Scowen 5, Luongo 5, Freeman 5 (Ngbakoto 74, 5); Sylla 4 (Smith 45, 5), Washington 4
Subs not used: Furlong, Cousins, Manning, Lumley
Yellows: Freeman 70 (foul)
Referee — Tim Robinson (West Sussex) 6 Not as pedantic as he can be, but that was a clear penalty on Smith in the second half — shirt ripped up over his head, torso showing, right in front of the referee who waved it away. For somebody who’s so quick to award free kicks to the defending team at every corner for tiny, tiny infringements to be waving that away having looked right at it is poor. Not that it had an effect on the outcome of course.
Norwich 4 QPR 0, Sunday May 7, 2017, Championship
Yes, there was a very obvious Grant Hall-sized hole between the defence and the midfield. His presence would have made a hell of a difference, and QPR’s most recent losing run has coincided with his knee injury. But he’s just a decent player, not our Lord and Saviour, and we’ve got to have a better plan than this for when he’s unavailable next season. Why we’ve abandoned the idea of using Perch in there when Hall’s out, despite Perch looking a good deal better there than he ever does at right back (unlucky to be penalised here by Robinson for his first clean tackle in six months mind you), despite Darnell Furlong being a far better bet than him on the right of the defence, I cannot explain.
The protection afforded the defence by the midfield was worse than non-existent. Michael Doughty following in the footsteps of Sean Goss and Michael Petrasso with a sudden, unexpected start here after months of in-action. This will surely be the last rites of Doughty’s QPR career which has lasted eight years as a professional during which time he’s made just six starts. On the ball, some nice passes, but without it he’s simply not quick enough. There’s no engine on him, he can’t get around the pitch. He was hopelessly schooled here. Only Murphy’s decision to execute a fairly flagrant dive in the penalty area over Nedum Onuoha — Robinson didn’t award a penalty but didn’t book him either strangely — stopped a particularly harrowing 50 yard slog down the field in vain pursuit of the Norwich man ending with Doughty and the ball in the back of the net. He will get a decent club at his level in League One, where he’s impressed before at Swindon, and knowing our luck get sold for £4m in 18 months’ time, but he doesn’t look a Championship player at all and his time is surely up here now sadly. If you can bear to watch the highlights again, look at him for the first goal — five yards behind the play, blowing.
Norwich: Ruddy 6; Pinto 6 (Godfrey 86, -), Martin 6, Klose 6, Dijks 6; Howson 7, Dorrans 7; Hoolahan 7, Pritchard 8 (Maddison 71, 6), Murphy 8; Oliveira 6 (Jerome 61, 5)
Subs not used: Wildschut, Tettey, McGovern, Murphy
Goals: Hoolahan 22 (unassisted), 90+2 (assisted Jerome), Pritchard 60 (assisted Hoolahan), Murphy 85 (unassisted)
QPR: Smithies 5; Perch 5, Onuoha 6, Lynch 6, Robinson 5 (Bowler 69, 7); Luongo 5, Doughty 4, Manning 4; Wszolek 4, Smith 4 (Freeman 45, 6), Washington 5 (Grego-Cox 81, -)
Subs not used: Goss, Ingram, Petrasso, Furlong
Referee — Tim Robinson (West Sussex) 6 Fixation with awarding a free kick to the defensive side at the majority of corners remains. Penalised Perch for the first good tackle he’s made in about six months, with an assistant referee standing three yards away giving nothing. Irritating in a non-competitive game.
Leeds 0 QPR 0, Saturday March 11, 2017, Championship
They couldn’t, for a mixture of reasons. Conor Washington missed the two key chances. The first, after six minutes, looked a sitter from a couple of yards out as Darnell Furlong, who has a prodigious leap on him, flicked a whipped Luke Freeman corner on at the near post. Leeds full back Berardi appeared to take the ball off Washington’s toe but referee Tim Robinson awarded a goal kick.
After Washington’s second miss both managers embarked on a quick flurry of substitutions. Leeds sent O’Kane and Sacko on for Roofe and Vieira to no real positive effect, then brought in a half-arsed Doukara for Alfonso which made them worse. Holloway replaced his front three with Sylla, Mackie and Ngbakoto on for Washington, Smith and Wszolek. The craft of the Polish winger was missed in the closing stages, but Mackie provided niggle value, breaking up the closing stages as Leeds tried to push on. He was booked after a typical football scrap — lots of gentle pushes and dramatic fallings over — with O’Kane in injury time which wouldn’t have happened at all if Tim Robinson wasn’t so keen to award a free kick to the defensive team everybody somebody tries to take a corner.
Leeds: Green 6; Ayling 7, Bartley 6, Jansson 6, Berardi 5; Bridcutt 6, Vieira 6 (O’Kane 78, 6); Roofe 6 (Sacko 60, 6), Hernandez 6, Pedraza 6 (Doukara 73, 5); Wood 5
Subs not used: Cooper, Silvestri, Taylor, Dallas
Bookings: Ayling 35 (foul), Alfonso 48 (foul), Bridcutt 66 (foul), O’Kane 90+4 (ungentlemanly)
QPR: Smithies 6; Furlong 6, Onuoha 8, Lynch 7, Bidwell 6; Freeman 8, Hall 7, Luongo 7; Wszolek 7 (Ngbakoto 79, 6), Smith 6 (Sylla 78, 6), Washington 6 (Mackie 80, 6)
Subs not used: Goss, Ingram, Manning, Morrison
Bookings: Bidwell 87 (foul), Mackie 90+4 (ungentlemanly)
Referee — Tim Robinson (West Sussex) 6 A bit of an odd performance really. Several times, for both sides, what seemed like fairly obvious free kicks were waved away only for fouls to be awarded for other lesser incidents later on. No arguments with any of the bookings really, although the Mackie and O’Kane incident only happened because, as he does all the bloody time, Robinson had awarded a free kick to the defending team at a corner for no reason whatsoever. Bit of a fuss pot.
Newcastle 2 QPR 2, Wednesday February 1, 2017, Championship
Shelvey’s petulant kick out at Mackie before he was subbed could have brought more punishment from referee Tim Robinson, as could Joel Lynch’s apparently deliberate trample of Ameobi out by the corner flag which roused the Geordies briefly. That suggested Newcastle were frustrated but, in truth, QPR’s goal threat had dissipated and although the best travelling support (volume wise) the club has enjoyed for some time kept the singing going, hope appeared to be running out until Clark intervened.
Newcastle: Darlow 7; Yedlin 6, Lascelles 6, Clark 5, Dummett 5; Hayden 6, Shelvey 7; Gouffran 6, Perez 5 (Diame 86, -), Ritchie 7; Murphy 6 (Ameobi 66, 6)
Subs not used: Hanley, Lazaar, Gamez, Sels, Mitrovic
Goals: Shelvey 1 (Unassisted), Ritchie 54 (assisted Hayden)
Bookings: Ritchie 89 (foul)
QPR: Smithies 8; Furlong 6 (Goss 81, -), Onuoha 7, Lynch 7, Bidwell 7; Luongo 7, Perch 7, Manning 8 (Freeman 66, 5); Wszolek 7, Washington 8, Mackie 7 (Lua Lua 74, 5)
Subs not used: Cousins, Ingram, Doughty, Petrasso
Goals: Washington 44 (assisted Bidwell) Clark own goal 89 (assisted Lua Lua)
Bookings: Perch 44 (foul)
Referee — Tim Robinson (West Sussex) 6 Nowhere near as annoying as he was in our home match with Wolves, but still not great. Missed both Shelvey’s kick out at Mackie, and Lynch’s stamp on Ameobi. Seemed to lose the plot rather in the last ten minutes, with fouls awarded for very little and other obvious bad tackles waved on.
QPR 1 Wolves 2, Thursday December 1, 2016, Championship
Robinson had already awarded Wolves a free kick from QPR’s first corner of the game when goalkeeper Carl Ikeme seemed to simply fumble the ball in a crowded six yard box. This time the former QPR loanee definitely dropped it clean, under no pressure at all, and yet the whistle was once again blown immediately and the visitors awarded a free kick. This continued all half to the point where corners became completely pointless — player trots over to take it, players come up from the back to attack it, ball comes over, whistle gets blown, free kick the other way. I wondered if it might be worth saving time and just forfeiting them. "Corner”, "nah you’re alright ref, let them have a goal kick and let’s at least try and get home before first light you pedantic schlong”.
Odd that never once in these gatherings of players in the penalty area did Robinson feel the defending team had sinned. I mean, it’s the defending team more likely to commit a foul isn’t it? They’re the ones trying to stop the goal, they’re the ones doing the blocking. But no, every Wolves corner was immediately a QPR free kick, every QPR corner immediately a Wolves free kick, and nothing that anybody said or did was going to sway Robinson from his manic obsession that whatever happened at Loftus Road on Thursday night, nobody was going to be scoring from a wide set piece on his watch.
That didn’t, however, stop James Perch having a little go at changing the official’s mind. Having, according to Holloway, pointed out that Ikeme had merely dropped the ball, as Ikeme is rather prone to doing, the full back was immediately yellow carded. This under the new dissent rules introduced this season which still allow players to scream at referees, still allow Wayne Rooney to follow the man in black around for the entire game trying to officiate it for him, but do not allow any movement of the hands or arms to express displeasure at whatever bullshit has been awarded this time — because that, of course, looks bad.
Some sympathy for Perch there then, a nonsense yellow card for mildly complaining about a crap decision by a terrible referee, but none for what he did next.
The match, such as it was, trudged on through another 20 minutes or so at a pace that made Bob Malcolm look like Usain Bolt. Everything was a free kick. Everything. Everything. That’s a free kick. That’s a free kick. That’s a free kick. This is a free kick. Don’t do that. Stop doing that. Don’t do that either. Whistle. Whistle. Whistle. Stop. Start. Stop. Whistle. Don’t do that.
That’s a free kick. No more of that. Free kick there. That’s a free kick. That’s a foul. This is a foul. Foul there. That’s a free kick. Not there. No, there. There. Not there. Take that again. Free kick. Everything that is, apart from a a very good shout for a handball in the Wolves area by Doherty midway through the first half. That was a corner apparently. Which was then, as per the script, immediately turned round into a Wolves free kick.
Robinson like the worst kind of pernickety, nagging, relentless other half who you end up beating to death with the frying pan after 20 years and instructing your lawyer with a smile "when they strap me to the chair please let the people know the murder was just”. Why do people like this go into refereeing? What possible pleasure can they get from choking already poor football matches to death?
The desire to see somebody remove the whistle from Robinson’s possession and bury it so far up his arse he’d need horribly invasive surgery to ever be able to find and use it again was so overwhelming I almost went down there and did it myself. Of the first 35 minutes, I’d estimate the ball was in play for about 48 seconds, during which time Alex Smithies produced a flying save to his right like few I’ve ever seen before to keep out a firmly struck volley from Helder Costa, and Nedum Onuoha smacked one over at the other end when the ball fell to him on the edge of the area. Two of the free kicks, both of which looked harsh to me, were kicked straight into Ikeme’s arms by Tjaronn Chery without the keeper having to move.
Honestly, BT Open Reach go faster than this match. The first half an hour lasted as long as the Cretaceous Period.
And then it happened. The all-too-often spotted James Perch brain fart. Less of a fart, more of a full on beer shit in truth, given what had happened at Ipswich. Robinson had to get a decision right eventually, and sadly it was this one. On a yellow card, the former Wigan and Newcastle man decided to get airborn and fly into a wild fool’s mission of a challenge on Wolves’ Matt Doherty as he cut in from the left wing. Luckily he didn’t connect too much with the player, or he might have killed him, but a yellow card was the only option and Perch headed off for an early bath, money well earned for the week and no need for him to make that long trip up to Rotherham next weekend now either. I’m alright Jack, pull the fucking ladder up.
QPR: Smithies 8; Perch 2, Onuoha 5, Lynch 6, Robinson 4; Hall 6; Luongo 5, Sandro 5 (Henry 61, 5), Chery 5; Polter 5 (Sylla 67, 5), Washington 5 (Ngbakoto 46, 6)
Subs not used: Ingram, Gladwin, Cousins, Bidwell
Goals: Lynch 90 (assisted Robinson)
Red Cards: Perch 35 (two yellows)
Yellow Cards: Perch 9 (dissent), Perch 35 (foul), Luongo 51 (foul)
Wolves: Ikeme 6 (Lonergan 81, -); Iorfa 6, Baath 6, Stearman 6, Doherty 6; Coady 6, Saiss 7, Edwards 7; Costa 7, Dicko 6 (Bodvarsson 76, 6), Cavaleiro 6 (Saville 73, 6)
Subs not used: Wallace, Price, Hause, Enobakhare
Goals: Edwards 60 (assisted Dicko), Costa 67 (assisted Saiss)
Yellow cards: Cavaleiro 49 (foul), Batth 78 (dissent)
Referee — Tim Robinson (West Sussex) 3 Insufferable.
QPR 1 Fulham 3, Saturday February 8, 2016, Championship
But there was some sort of rally at the start of the second half as Mackie freed Hoilett on the edge of the box to burst into the area only for Michael Madl to chop him down right on the line. It was the dictionary definition of a yellow card, but referee Tim Robinson didn’t even speak to the offender, and then allowed Scott Parker to stand seven yards away from the kick as it was taken. As QPR - stupidly, moronically - decided to touch the ball rather than just hitting it, Parker was only about a foot away from it when it was finally struck by Phillips and was therefore able to block it away. Shambolic refereeing all round really, and Onuoha was subsequently yellow carded for telling him as much.
It was a curious performance from Robinson on his first ever outing at Loftus Road. Not exactly a difficult game to control, given how totally uncompetitive it was, but he nevertheless made a bit of a pig’s ear of it. Later Jamie O’Hara was carded, either for a foul in back play or something he’d said, or both. When you’re upsetting players from both sides equally to the point where they’re all getting booked for dissent you’ve got to have a look closer to home I think. Hall was later yellow carded for a foul nowhere near as bad as Madl’s, in a more neutral area, while in the first half a seemingly obvious hack on Massimo Luongo as he accelerated into a dangerous area brought no free kick at all.
It was a curious performance from Robinson on his first ever outing at Loftus Road. Not exactly a difficult game to control, given how totally uncompetitive it was, but he nevertheless made a bit of a pig’s ear of it. Later Jamie O’Hara was carded, either for a foul in back play or something he’d said, or both. When you’re upsetting players from both sides equally to the point where they’re all getting booked for dissent you’ve got to have a look closer to home I think. Hall was later yellow carded for a foul nowhere near as bad as Madl’s, in a more neutral area, while in the first half a seemingly obvious hack on Massimo Luongo as he accelerated into a dangerous area brought no free kick at all.
When, midway through the half, Jamie Mackie caught Fulham pissing around in possession and ran clear on goal only to be chopped down by Dan Burn a red card seemed the only likely outcome. Robinson bottled the big decision and showed a yellow, before then booking O’Hara a short time later, and speaking to Mackie at length about his own dissent — a farcical five minutes at the hands of an official out of his depth.
QPR: Smithies 6; Perch 5, Onuoha 4, Hall 5, Konchesky 4; Phillips 3 (Chery 76, 6), Toszer 3, Luongo 5, Hoilett 5 (El Khayati 65, 6); Polter 4 (Washington 46, 5), Mackie 6
Subs not used: Hill, Henry, Ingram, Petrasso
Goals: Chery 89 (assisted Tozser)
Bookings: Onuoha 48 (dissent), Hall 82 (foul)
Fulham: Lonergan 6; Fredericks 7, Madl 6, Burn 8, Christensen — (Garbutt 6, 8); Amorebieta 6, Parker 7 (Ince 78, 6), O’Hara 7, Cairney 8; McCormack 8, Dembele 7 (Hundman 84, -)
Subs not used: Richards, Smith, Kacaniklic, Lewis
Goals: McCormack 35 (assisted Cairney), Dembele 41 (assisted Garbutt), Cairney 45+2 (assisted Dembele)
Bookings: Burn 63 (foul), O’Hara 65 (dissent)
Referee — Tim Robinson (West Sussex) 4 Made rather a pig’s ear of a one-sided, uncompetitive game which doesn’t bode particularly well. One red card challenge from Burn only received a yellow, one yellow card challenge on Hoilett didn’t get a card at all, one foul on Luongo was waved away altogether, two players were booked for dissent when their frustration with the officials all became too much for them… but he was very hot and precise about the placement of throw ins. Not as bad as QPR, but not far off.
Had some big games of late — in charge of last week’s Yorkshire derby between Leeds and Sheff Wed, and the Birmingham v Villa game where Jack Grealish got lamped by the local yobbo in the first half. He’s shown 113 yellows (3.64) and seven reds in 31 games so far this season. His biggest haul in a single game is nine yellows and a red at Brentford 1-1 Birmingham before Christmas. This is his first game with Blackburn so far this season.
Robinson started last season with six reds in his first eight games but calmed down a bit after that and finished with 11 reds and 150 yellows in 47 appointments. His last Blackburn appointment was a 2-1 home win against Nottingham Forest in December 2016 when he sent off the visitors’ Hildeberto Pereira in injury time.
Robinson stepped up to the Football League list in 2012/13, prior to which he'd been refereeing in the Conference. He spent the majority of his first three seasons in the bottom two divisions, and only had two Championship games during 2014/15. He finished that campaign with 120 yellows and three reds from 31 appointments.
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