John Busby is in charge on Saturday as QPR host Millwall in a lunchtime London derby at Loftus Road.
Referee >>> John Busby (Oxfordshire)
Assistants >>> Mark Russell (Somerset) and Greg Read (Surrey)
Fourth official >>> David Rock (Hertfordshire)
QPR 1 Swansea 1, Saturday January 21, 2023, Championship
Ryan Manning was back in town, in the midst of another dispute about a soon-to-expire contract (shocked, shocked I tell thee), and doing a lot of that thing he does where he lies motionless on the ground having come under apparent sniper fire only to leap back up and sprint back into the action when his cheating has failed to get an opponent booked — thankfully, a rare competent Championship refereeing performance here from John Busby wasn’t falling for any of it, hold that call to the coroner I reckon he’ll be alright in a minute.
QPR: Dieng 6; Laird 6 (Kakay 38, 6), Dickie 5, Dunne 6, Paal 6; Field 6, Iroegbunam 5 (Dozzell 89, -); Chair 5, Lowe 6, Roberts 5 (Adomah 90, -), Dykes 6 (Willock 58, 5)
Subs not used: Clarke-Salter, Johansen, Archer
Goals: Lowe 27 (assisted Dykes)
Swansea: Benda 4 (Fisher 61, 5); Latibeaudiere 5, Cabango 6, Darling 5, Manning 6; Grimes 6, Allen 5 (Ntcham 59, 7); Cooper 6, Fulton 7, Cullen 6 (Cundle 58, 6); Piroe 6
Subs not used: Wood, Sorinola, Naughton, Congreave
Goals: Fulton 81 (assisted Cundle)
Referee — John Busby (Oxfordshire) 8 Very good indeed. Controlled the game in a calm, unfussy way and was right on top of every decision. Best player on the pitch.
Coventry 2 QPR 0, Saturday November 12, 2022, Championship
Coventry: Wilson 7; Doyle 7, McFadzean 8, Panzo 7; Eccles 6, Hamer 8, Sheaf 7, Bidwell 6; O’Hare 8, Allen 7; Gyokeres 9
Subs not used: Moore, Kelly, Walker, Kane, Tavares, Burroughs, Palmer
Goals: Gyokeres 11 (assisted Allen), 78 (assisted O’Hare)
Bookings: Doyle 27 (foul), McFadzean 86 (foul)
QPR: Dieng 6; Laird 5, Dunne 6, Dickie 6, Clarke-Salter 4 (Kakay 80, -); Field 6, Richards 5 (Adomah 87, -), Dozzell 4; Chair 5 (Armstrong 83, -), Willock 5 (Thomas 87, -), Dykes 5 (Shodipo 83, -)
Subs not used: Archer, Trävelmän
Bookings: Field 59 (foul), Chair 76 (foul)
Referee — John Busby (Oxfordshire) 6 Gave some bits and pieces of nonsense — Mide Shodipo looked to have been fouled on the corner of the box late on but somehow got penalised himself; earlier having bought a spurious head injury claim after a QPR corner and stopped the play he returned the ball to Coventry even though Rangers had it in their possession 40 yards out from goal at the time — but overall not too bad and a world away from the pillock who was meant to be in charge of this one.
It’s already Busby’s second Millwall game of the season having done their 3-2 home defeat to Watford on day one as part of his three appointments so far. He was also the man in the middle for Luton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski’s bizarre sending off at Portsmouth. A chunky 16 yellows and one red from the three games so far.
Last season he finished with 125 yellows (3.9) and one red in 32 games topped out early on with ten yellows in Hull’s 1-0 home loss to champions Leicester. Millwall didn’t have a particularly happy time with him, losing 3-0 at home to Swansea and drawing 1-1 at The Den against PNE. The Lions have only won one of eight fixtures with this referee, with a 1-3-4 record. QPR have drawn one and lost one of their two games with him.
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Pictures — Ian Randall Photography
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