Martin takes Sunderland trip - Referee
Wednesday, 11th Oct 2017 18:43 by Clive Whittingham

Steve Martin is the referee for Saturday's trip up to second-from-bottom Sunderland.

Referee >>> Steve Martin (Staffordshire), co-wrote and starred in the 1986 comedy western movie Three Amigos, directed by John Landis.

Assistants >>> David Avent (Northants) and Mark Jones (Nottinghamshire)

Fourth official >>> Anthony Blackhouse

History

QPR 1 Reading 1, Saturday October 15, 2016, Championship

QPR: Smithies 7; Perch 5, Onuoha 5, Hall 6 (Caulker 35,5) Lynch 5; Henry 5, Borysiuk 6; Shodipo 5 (Washington 53,6), Chery 5, Wzsolek 6 (Sylla 73, 5) ; Polter 6

Subs not used: Ingam, Gladwin, Hamalainen, Luongo

Goals: Wzsolek 11 (assisted Shodipo)

Bookings: Lynch 56 (foul)

Reading: Al-Habsi 6; Blackett 5 (Obita 66, 6), van den Berg 6, Moore 6, Gunter 6; Evans 7, Williams 8; McCleary 7 (Harriot 84, 6), Swift 7, Beerens 7, Kermogant 7

Subs not used: Samuel, Gravenberch, Watson, Jaakkola, Kelly

Goals: Williams 21 (assisted McCleary)

Bookings: van den Berg 49 (foul)

Referee — Steve Martin 6 A bit pedantic in truth, especially with the booking of van den Berg but didn't have a lot to referee.

Cardiff 0 QPR 0, Saturday April 16, 2016, Championship

So I’m well placed to tell those of you who weren’t there that Cardiff City and Queens Park Rangers played out 45 minutes of Championship football in South Wales on Saturday during which two things happened. The first, after 13 minutes, saw Cardiff’s most advanced midfielder Anthony Pilkington dive in the penalty box attempting to con a penalty kick out of referee Stephen Martin. He was yellow carded for his troubles. Later, on the half hour, Pilkington ushered a chance wide of the post after Stuart O’Keefe had crossed and Lex Immers had flicked it on at the near post.

And it’s probably worth noting that Grant Hall, who’s had one or two issues of late, followed up a very fine ball and all tackle in his own penalty area with a mad five minutes during which he was first caught in possession in a dangerous area trying to bring a dropping ball down with a first touch when he should have just leathered it away, then tried a risky pass across his own box to Hill with similarly poor results, and finally tried to buy a free kick tight to the touchline with an obvious dive that Martin waved away again allowing Cardiff to launch an attack against a short-handed defence.

There were other scares in between — Nedum Onuoha flinging everything he owns in front of a powerful drive from Malone after Konchesky had been skinned showed tremendous commitment and desire to win the point in a largely meaningless match. Hall also stood his ground, and was subsequently wrestled over by Pilkington for an obvious yellow card, when Zohore sent Ralls’ back post cross all the way back through the goal mouth.

Cardiff: Marshall 6; Peltier 5, Morrison 6, Connolly 6, Malone 6; Noone 6, O’Keefe 6 (Ameobi 66, 7), Ralls 6, Whittingham 5 (Gunnarsson 81, -); Immers 5 (Zohore 80, -); Pilkington 5

Subs not used: Turner, Dikgacoi, Moore, Lawrence

Bookings: Pilkington 13 (diving), Peltier 49 (foul)

QPR: Ingram 7; Onuoha 6, Hall 6, Hill 6, Konchesky 4; Henry 6, Luongo 6, Faurlin 6, Phillips 6 (Washington 84, -); Chery 5 (El Khayati 72, 6); Polter 5 (Gladwin 66, 6)

Subs not used: Lumley, Hoilett, Petrasso, Kpekawa

Bookings: Konchesky 81 (foul)

Referee — Stephen Martin (Staffordshire) 8 Promising performance on his first ever QPR outing. Bookings spot on, early dive from Pilkington not bought, decent control of a pretty pedestrian game.

Stats

Very low totals so far this season with just 14 yellows and one red from 12 appointments. Only twice (Wolves v Bristol City, Bolton v Derby) has he made it to three bookings, and he’s shown no cards at all on four occasions including his last two matches. Refereed Sunderland’s 1-1 draw at Sheff Wed in August.

Pretty lenient last year too with 78 yellows and three reds in 35 games, and two of those reds went to Newcastle players in the same crazy match at Nottingham Forest.

Other Listings

Championship >>> Our old fat-headed friend Lee Mason has Barnsley v Middlesbrough while Lee Probert is trusted with Brentford v Millwall. Andy Madley gets the Derby v Forest grudge match.

The Twitter @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

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