New Premier League referee Chris Kavanagh is back in the Championship this weekend for QPR’s trip to Fulham.

Referee >>> Chris Kavanagh (Manchester), fourth full season on the league list and new to the Premier League circuit this year.

Assistants >>> Marc Perry (West Midlands) and Sian Massey-Ellis (West Midlands)

Fourth Official >>> Steve Martin (Staffordshire), starred as George Banks in the Charles Shyer-directed 1991 comedy Father of the Bride and its subsequent 1995 sequel.

History

QPR 1 Leeds 3, Saturday December 9, 2017, Championship

But Leeds’ keeper Felix Wiedwald hadn’t had a serious shot to save by the time his team surged into a quick-fire two goal lead — criminal, given how accident prone the German stopper is and how little it takes to beat him as we’d find out in injury time. And they could have been in front early when Nedum Onuoha, rushed back from a hamstring injury and playing basically on one leg, made a mess of a pass pack and Alex Smithies had his clearance charged down. Smithies later palmed a dangerous cross behind and Rangers were then fortunate not to be reduced to ten men in the first half of a game for the second time in a week when Josh Scowen hacked into Roofe tight to the touchline. Referee Chris Kavanagh, kindly, opted for a yellow, and afforded the same benefit of the doubt to Giles Phillips when he went in late on Luongo moments later.

QPR: Smithies 6; Wszolek 6, Onuoha 6, Robinson 6, Bidwell 6 (Sylla 71, 5); Scowen 6 (Hall 78, 6), Freeman 6, Luongo 6, Chair 6 (Osayi-Samuel 64, 5); Washington 5, Smith 6

Subs not used: Cousins, Manning, Lumley, Wheeler

Goals: Wszolek 89 (unassisted)

Bookings: Scowen 20 (foul), Luongo 55 (foul)

Leeds: Weidwald 5; Ayling 6, Jansson 7, Cooper 7, Beradi 6; Vieira 7 (Pennington 80, -), Phillips 7; Alioski 7 (O’Kane 70, 6), Saiz 8, Roofe 8; Ekuban 5 (Cibicki 38, 6)

Subs not used: Lonergan, Borthwick-Jackson, Anita, Shaughnessy

Goals: Roofe 63 (assisted Alioski), 64 (assisted Cibicki), 90+4 (assisted Saiz)

Bookings: Phillips 29 (foul), Vieira 56 (foul), Alioski 60 (dissent)

Referee — Chris Kavanagh (Manchester) 8 Very decent, nothing major wrong, gave Phillips and particularly Scowen the benefit of the doubt for bad tackles in the first half.

Sheff Wed 1 QPR 1, Saturday August 12, 2017, Championship

Wednesday spotted a flaw with the new zonal marking system at corners as well — queueing players up in the back post ‘zone’ against one player — but Daniel Pudil’s downward header after being left totally unmarked in the thirteenth minute bounced into the ground, up and wide. Reach skewed a sitter wide from 15 yards before half time and they had very good cause to believe they should have had a penalty when Rhodes angled another set piece header back across goal and Hooper hit the deck at the back post under heavy contact from Bidwell just as he seemed set to tap in from close range but between them referee Chris Kavanagh and assistant referee Sian Massey Ellis said no. Massey won few friends in the side stand with a series of marginal calls in the second half as well - with all the usual levels of witty banter going her way that you'd expect.

Sheff Wed: Westwood 6; Hunt 6, Lees 6, Loovens 6 (Winnall 27, 7), Pudil 6; Wallace 5, Hutchinson 6 (Jones 13, 6), Bannan 6, Reach 6; Hooper 6, Rhodes 5 (Fletcher 87, -)

Subs not used: Palmer, Boyd, Wildsmith, Abdi

Goals: Winnall 48 (assisted Bannan)

QPR: Smithies 6; Perch 6, Onouha 6, Lynch 6; Wszolek 7 (Furlong 90+3, -), Bidwell 6; Scowen 7, Freeman 7 (Manning 80, 6), Luongo 7; Mackie 6 (Lua Lua 79, 5), Washington 6

Subs not used: Ingram, Smith, Baptiste, Borysiuk

Goals: Mackie 23 (assisted Freeman)

Yellows: Lynch 40 (foul), Bidwell 66 (foul), Scowen 80 (foul)

Referee — Chris Kavanagh (Manchester) 7 Overall I thought he was very good and the abuse Sian Massey took from the side stand (with the usual “get your tits out for the lads” bilge from the sort of sex-deprived, middle-aged troglodytes who probably thought Keysie and Graysie were harshly done to by Sky) was over the top — if your back four can’t get itself into a straight line and play offside it’s not the assistant’s referee for not flagging it. But that all said, I thought they both made a mess of the penalty incident in the first half which should have been a spot kick to Sheff Wed from where I was sitting so hard to mark too high even though the other 89 minutes of the performance probably deserved it — much like Nedum Onuoha in fact.

Sheff Wed 1 QPR 0, Saturday October 22, 2016, Championship

QPR, unbeaten in five prior to kick off, will feel they could and should have taken something from it. Rangers had the ball in the net before half time through Conor Washington but he’d been penalised as the cross came over for a push before he headed into the net. Referee Chris Kavanagh was hot (or, put another way, pedantic) on upper body contact throughout the the game, which proved to be bad news for Seb Polter when he came on in the second half and was penalised every time he got within 20 yards of the ball.

The forced selection of young Nico Hamalainen at left back bore no ill-results as the American Fin turned in a steady, solid, unpanicked performance. Certainly you’d never have picked him out as a player without a senior start to his name at this level. He was booked late on for pulling back his man close to the byline though — earlier Onuoha, Gladwin and Borysiuk had both been rightly carded for bad tackles, and Pudil saw yellow for yelling at the linesman and booting the ball away in disgust at one decision.

Sheff Wed: Dawson 6; Hunt 6 (Palmer 70, 6), Lees 6, Hutchinson 7, Pudil 6; Bannan 7, Jones 6, Lee 7 (Wallace 87, -), Reach 6; Forestieri 5, Hooper 6 (Fletcher 74, 6)

Subs not used: Kean, Loovens, Nuhui, Buckley

Goals: Hooper 40 (assisted Jones)

Bookings: Pudil 77 (dissent)

QPR: Smithies 6; Perch 6, Onuoha 6, Caulker 6, Hamalainen 6; Borysiuk 7 (Shodipo 80, 7); Gladwin 5 (Wszolek 74, 6), Luongo 6, Chery 6, Washington 6; Sylla 6 (Polter 64, 5)

Subs not used: Ingram, El Khayati, Kakay, Henry

Bookings: Borysiuk 13 (foul), Gladwin 17 (foul), Onuoha 85 (foul), Hamalainen 90+1 (foul)

Referee — Chris Kavanagh (Manchester) 6 Rather pedantic, particularly with any sort of upper body contact — shoulders, leaning, flailing arms, all immediately punished for pushing when really it was nothing of the sort. Five bookings all spot on and no major decisions wrong though.

Wigan 0 QPR 1, Saturday August 27, 2016, Championship

The second half was much better, but it simply had to be. Three minutes after the restart Rangers took the lead with a lovely finish from Onuoha. Our ability to score from open play should have been apparent to Wigan if they’d done any homework, but they gave a needless free kick away and following a poor clearance, our captain smashed in what turned out to be the winner.

Following the goal it seemed like only a matter of time before a second would follow and the points secured. The referee had seen how many penalties we’ve been awarded this season and waved away pretty valid claims after Polter was shoved over by Jake Buxton. The second goal didn’t arrive and as the half progressed the home side came back into the game and we started to back off. Half chances started to arrive for Wigan and from one of these Smithies made a fine save- the only save of the game for both teams. So yet another game where we didn’t test their keeper, bar the goal. Our approach play was often easy on the eye but we simply don’t get enough bodies forward to support the ever hard working Polter.

Wigan: Bogdan N/A; Power 6; Morgan 5; Buxton 5; Warnock 6; Garbutt 6 (Davies 81); Gilbey 5 (Gomez 68); Macdonald (Wildschut 54); Powell 6; Jacobs 5; Grigg 5

Subs not used: Flores, Burke, Burn Jääskeläinen

Bookings: Powell 42 (foul), MacDonald 51 (dissent), Jacobs 66 (foul), Morgan 82 (foul)

QPR: Smithies 7; Perch 6; Hall 8, Onuoha 8, Bidwell 7; Henry 6; Luongo 7, Cousins 5, NGkakato 5; Chery 6 (Borysuik 83, -); Polter 6.

Subs not used: Washington, Ingram, El Khayati, Paul, Kakay, Shodipo

Goals: Onuoha 48 (assisted Bidwell)

Bookings: Cousins 13 (foul), Bidwell 38 (foul), Henry 42 (dissent)

Referee - Chris Kavanagh 7 No issues, hardly noticed him. Thought he managed the game well and tried to play the advantage wherever he could. Seemed consistent with bookings and not allowing dissent to go unpunished. Could have awarded us a penalty but we have had our fair share.

Middlesbrough 1 QPR 0, Friday November 20, 2015, Championship

He may have had a goal too, had he not been wrestled to the ground in the area as he honed in on a corner. There were a couple of incidents like that but once Boro realised referee Chris Kavanagh was going to let it go on, they continued safe in the knowledge no spot kicks would be awarded. If only QPR had realised too, this may have finished 0-0 after all given how the match ended.

A red card, a Grant Leadbitter penalty, another 1-0 loss. QPR have tightened up at the back, but have now stopped scoring completely — from the most goals in the division to five blanks in six outings - and are thirteenth in the league.
Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos 6; Nsue 6, Ayala 6, Gibson 6, Friend 6; Leadbitter 7, Clayton 7; Adomah 6 (Kike 78, 6), Fabbrini 7 (Stuani 63, 6), Downing 6; Nugent 5

Subs not used: de Pena, Meijas, Stephens, Zuculini, Woodgate

Goals: Leadbitter (penalty, handball Fer, 90)

Bookings: Leabitter (foul)

QPR: Green 6; Perch 5, Onuoha 7, Hall 7, Konchesky 5; Henry 6, Sandro 6 (Emmanuel-Thomas 81, -), Fer 5, Faurlin 6 (Tozser 75, 5), Phillips 6, Yun 6.

Subs not used: Smithies, Angella, Luongo, Petrasso, Blackwood

Red Cards: Fer 90 (deliberate handball preventing a goal)

Booked: Phillips (foul), Faurlin (repetitive fouling), Onuoha (foul)

Referee — Chris Kavanagh (Manchester) 6 I liked how he started this game. Faurlin, Friend and Leadbitter were all let away with a warning for fouls other referees would have booked them for, and by not showing yellows he didn’t create a situation later in the game where he would be under pressure to start showing red cards in a contest that never really called for it. Good game management. The big decision for the handball was correct as well, but QPR had one decent and one stone-wall shout for a penalty of their own when Hall was dragged to the floor as a cross was delivered. You have to be brave enough to give away teams decisions like that if they’re merited.

Stats

This is actually the first time Kavanagh has done a Championship game since our defeat to Leeds, with seven Premier League games and four FA Cup ties officiated in the meantime. He’s done a relatively low 23 matches overall this season, owing largely to a five week absence during the autumn which suggests an injury. He’s shown 71 yellows and three reds in that time, with two of the reds coming in his last five games including the Ashley Williams sending off at Burnley v Everton last time out.

Kavanagh finished last season with the second leg of the League One play-off semi-final between Scunthorpe and Millwall but this is his first appointment of the new season. Overall last year he showed a fairly standard 133 yellows in his 40 games (3.325) and a well below par three reds. His biggest card haul in a single game was eight in the Derby v Forest grudge match in December. His last Fulham appointment was a 3-1 home defeat by Wolves in March last season.

Leroy Fer’s red card at Middlesbrough was one of three he showed the season before across 32 games with 114 yellows thrown into the bargain as well. The eight yellows and a red shown at Brighton’s Championship match with MK Dons was as hectic as it got in a single game. Last season he refereed Sheff Wed’s 1-0 League Cup win at Newcastle, and 1-0 home defeat in the league by Rotherham.

In 2014/15 he showed 86 yellows and three reds in 29 appointments, of which eight were in the Championship — all in the second half of the season.

The Twitter @loftforwords

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