Our old mate Keith Stroud is the man in the middle for QPR's Tuesday trip to Bournemouth

Referee >>> Keith Stroud (Hampshire)

Assistants >>> George Byrne (Suffolk) and Ian Cooper (Kent)

Fourth Official >>> Joshua Smith (Kent)

Previously

Nottingham Forest 3 QPR 1, Monday April 5, 2021, Championship

The final quarter of the game turned into an absolute procession of substitutions. There’s been little chat about the introduction of five subs to our game recently as we’ve just all got used to it and accepted it as a thing. It, and the ability it gives managers who are leading to just kill off huge great chunks of matches, should absolutely not be tolerated as a thing when the calendar returns to normal. One of QPR’s new introductions was Albert Adomah, who did more in 23 minutes than the rest of the team in the rest of the match combined, crossing first for Lyndon Dykes to score but for a blatantly obvious pull back by Scott McKenna — just the two hands round the shoulders there, not enough for our old chum Keith Stroud to spot — and then again for a real goal for the Scottish international with the final kick of the game. Two goals in open play in two away games for him after a long 23-game drought one of few positives.

Forest: Samba 6; Christie 6, Worrall 7, McKenna 6, Blackett 7; Yates 6 (Colback 81, -), Garner 8; Ameobi 6 (Freeman 77, 6), Krovinovic 8, Mighten 7; Grabban 6 (Murray 78, 6)

Subs not used: Ribeiro, Soh, Smith, Dias, Knockaert, Taylor

Goals: Mighten 44 (assisted Ameobi), Grabban 63 (assisted Krovinovic), Garener 69 (free kick won Mighten)

Bookings: Yates 32 (foul), Krovinovic 66 (foul), Christie 89 (foul)

QPR: Dieng 5; Dickie 5, Field 5 (Bettache 80, -), Barbet 4; Kakay 5, Johansen 5, Ball 4 (Dykes 60, 5), Chair 5, Wallace 5; Willock 5 (Adomah 69, 6), Austin 5 (Kelman 80, -)

Subs not used: Lumley, Bonne, Thomas, Hämäläinen

Goals: Dykes 90+4 (assisted Adomah)

Bookings: Johansen 73 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 6 Much like Jeremy Simpson on Friday in that he had precious, mercifully, little to do in a completely uncompetitive game, and yet still contrived to get big, fairly basic, decision wrong near the end with Dykes clearly pulled back in the penalty area, with two hands, round his shoulders, as he attacked a cross from the right for a very obvious penalty not given.

QPR 0 Stoke 0, Tuesday December 15, 2020, Championship

QPR did at least start well, with Albert Adomah restored to the starting line-up seeing a lot of early ball down the right, forcing a succession of early corners. Rob Dickie was unfortunate to see a looping header from one of those cleared from the line, and when Chair got in behind with an immaculate touch and provided good, early service to Dykes the only question was whether it was a bad miss or great defending. That was all in the first 12 minutes and the next thing I’ve written down is a fairly vintage Yoann Barbet yellow card on 31 minutes for abandoning his defensive station to clatter right through the back of an opponent on halfway — advantage was played, but it was deemed reckless enough for a card in any case by friend of the site Keith Stroud, as per that increasingly complex and complicated new rule.

A man returning the ball to play from the front row of South Africa Road with an Alan McDonald-style no nonsense clearing header, executed to perfection without his flat cap shifting an inch, immediately put him in the running for man of the match. A minute of first half stoppage time was added in which Stroud (smaller than most of the stuff that’s come out of my advent calendar) erroneously awarded Stoke a corner, realised he’d fucked up, so abandoned the game before it could be taken.

QPR: Dieng 6; Kane 5, Dickie 6, Barbet 6, Hämäläinen 6; Cameron 4, Carroll 5 (Ball 57, 5); Adomah 5 (Willock 57, 6), Chair 6, Osayi-Samuel 5; Dykes 5 (Bonne 77, 5)

Subs not used: Thomas, Masterson, Bettache, Kelman, Kelly, De Silva

Bookings: Barbet 31 (foul), Hämäläinen 50 (foul)

Stoke: Bursik 6; Collins 6, Souttar 6, Chester 6, Fox 6; Cousins 5; Ince 5, Tymon 5 (Thompson 79, 5), Powell 5 (Oakley-Boothe 82, -), McClean 5 (Verlinden 82, -); Brown 5 (Fletcher 66, 5)

Subs not used: Batth, Vokes, Smith, Shawcross, Lonergan

Bookings: Souttar 86 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 5 Perfect referee for a dreadful game, absorbed completely in his own pedantry and guesswork, and apparently thrilled to death about it.

QPR 2 Derby 1, Tuesday February 25, 2020, Championship

It was all rather too much fun, and a sparse crowd was finally into the game, but there were to be a series of late scares. Dom Ball forgot himself, carried away with a Cruyff turn, and Barbet committed a deliberate foul to rescue the situation and take a yellow. Waghorn, who’d scored from similar range in the first meeting this season, stuck the free kick just over. Soon Lawrence was having a low, deflected shot pass through a crowd of legs and just wide and from that corner Waghorn headed towards goal only for Kelly to save at point blank range with his feet. More lousy marking at a corner, and a Kelly flap, and Clarke’s wildly inaccurate back post clearance induced more panic. When a ball subsequently fell to Waghorn in the right channel the far bottom corner was yawning, but he missed by a foot. With memories of Charlton snatching a 2-2 here in remarkably similar circumstances still fresh, all you could do was marvel at the carnage and hope we came out on the right side of it for once. If you could keep the self immolation down to a dull roar Rangers that would be great, we’re trying to have a nice night out here.
Legs flailing, bodies tumbling, chances coming, and going, and coming again, and now suddenly, in five added minutes at the end of the game, a man on the floor. Who’s that flat out on the deck? It’s bloody Keith Stroud, prostrate on the turf. I’ll tell you what, it’s a bloody chore finding blow darts of sufficient potency online these days but if you get a good one... This was it wasn’t it? This was how it was going to end. Keith Stroud, the division’s worst referee, unusually competent and disturbingly quiet, centre of attention after all, abandoning the game with three minutes left for play and QPR leading 2-1, returning to fitness just in time for the replay on Tuesday week which Rangers lose 1-0, to a last minute Wayne Rooney penalty, which Stroud awards, despite replays showing there’d been no foul. It was Dom Ball who clocked him I think, thus sealing his Player of the Year award for 2019/20 — sorry Eze, you’re not topping that mate.
A fittingly farcical end to a happy night of second tier nonsense. What on earth have I just watched?

QPR: Kelly 7; Kane 6, Hall 7, Barbet 7, Manning 7; Ball 7, Cameron 6; Osayi-Samuel 7, Eze 7, Pugh 7 (Chair 73, 7); Hugill 6 (Clarke 63, 5)

Subs not used: Lumley Wallace, Amos, Oteh, Masterson

Goals: Hall 34 (assisted Cameron), Chair 75 (assisted Eze, pre-assist Rooney)

Bookings: Kane 51 (foul), Barbet 80 (foul), Eze 90+5 (deliberate handball)

Derby: Hamer 6; Wisdom 6, Davies 5 (Bogle 71, 6), Clarke 5, Lowe 6; Bird 6, Shinnie 6 (Whittaker 79, -); Lawrence 5, Rooney 6, Waghorn 7; Marriott 5 (Martin 72, 5)

Subs not used: Forsyth, Roos, Knight, Malone

Goals: Waghorn 44 (assisted Bird)

Bookings: Waghorn 52 (unsporting)

Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 7 Goodness only knows what was going on at the end but this about as well as he’s refereed a QPR game for many a year.

QPR 1 Sheff Wed 2, Friday January 24, 2020, FA Cup Fourth Round

QPR: Lumley 4; Kane 5, Leistner 6, Masterson 6, Manning 5; Ball 6; Clarke (Osayi-Samuel 66, 7) 4, Eze 6, Chair (Wells 74, 6) 6, Pugh 6; Hugill 5

Subs not used: Barnes, Hall, Shodipo, Cameron, Amos

Goals: Wells 90+3 (unassisted)

Bookings: Ball 60 (foul), Osayi-Samuel 86 (foul)

Sheff Wed: Dawson 6; Odubajo 6, Lees 6, Borner 6, Fox 7, Murphy 7 (Reach 72, 6), Hutchinson 6 (Hunt 54, 6), Pelupessy 6, Harris 6; Rhodes 6 (Nuhiu 76, 6), Winnall 7

Subs not used: Wildsmith, Iorfa, Borukov, Urhoghide

Goals: Fox 43 (Hutchinson), Winnall 90+1 (assisted Reach)

Referee - Keith Stroud 4: For someone who didn’t have much to do, he still managed to make a pig’s ear of it. Among the highlights were Dom Ball being booked for a pull back on a Wednesday player despite it being his first foul, then a Wednesday midfielder subsequently being let off with a warning with Stroud making a point of holding his finger in the air to indicate it was the player’s first offence. Later Ebere Eze was chopped down but the ball ran through to Chair who was in on the last defender — Stroud decided to ignore the advantage, bring play back, and then not book the player. Another bizarre performance from the worst referee in the league on a night to forget for all.

Barnsley 5 QPR 3, Saturday December 14, 2019, Championship

Barnsley were rightly aggrieved that play had been stopped a moment before the goal, with Geoff Cameron bang in trouble surrounded by four home players and about to lose the ball in a dangerous area, for a non-existent head injury to Amos which didn’t even require treatment. Play was restarted by the ball being handed back to Hall, who passed to Lumley and three balls later it was 1-1. If you will invite Keith Stroud to dinner, expect some inappropriate stories to be told, and his maverick stylings would have increasing impact on the game as it progressed.

Four minutes of added time — and frankly anybody who has any idea of what they’re talking about who watched this half of multiple substitutions, prolonged goal celebrations, squabbles, time wasting and injuries and thinks four minutes is fair enough can get in the fucking sea — brought another yellow card for Grant Hall and a third QPR goal, finished neatly by Ilias Chair off a Bright Osayi-Samuel assist. It was the first time on the day that the former Blackpool winger, who flitted between various central roles for much of the afternoon, had been able to get going down the wing one on one with a full back. After all the damage he wrought from that position against Derby, Preston and particularly Birmingham, that it took until the ninety fourth minute for that to happen once is criminal.

Barnsley: Sahin-Radlinger 5; Williams 6, Diaby 7, Anderson 6, Odour 6 (McGeehan 83, -); Dougall 7, Bahre 5 (Thomas 31, 7), Mowatt 7; Woodrow 8, Brown 8, Chaplin 9

Subs not used: Sibbick, Thiam, Mottley-Henry, Marsh, Collins

Goals: Chaplin 7 (assisted Brown), 18 (assisted Mowatt), 52 (assisted Woodrow), Woodrow 60 (penalty won Woodrow), Diaby 82 (assisted Brown)

Bookings: Thomas 68 (foul), Brown 81 (retaliation), Dougall 84 (handball), Mowatt 85 (dissent)

QPR: Lumley 4; Kane 4, Hall 5, Leistner 4, Wallace 3 (Wells 56, 6); Eze 4, Cameron 4 (Chair 67, 6), Amos 5, Manning 4; Osayi-Samuel 5, Hugill 6

Subs not used: Smith, Pugh, Mlakar, Ball, Barnes

Goals: Amos 12 (assisted Hugill), 54 (assisted Manning), Chair 90+4 (assisted Osayi-Samuel)

Bookings: Chair 81 (foul), Wells 85 (retaliation), Hall 89 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 4 Every circus needs a ringmaster.

Brentford 3 QPR 0, Saturday March 3, 2019, Championship

Speaking of which, Keith Stroud was our referee.

Anyway, Keith Stroud was bored too, and that’s more problematic. Out he strode for the second half, like some testicular cancer charity had dressed up a bloke as a chode to waddle around the field and remind you to check your bollocks in the shower - as if we don’t do enough of that already thank you very much indeed. Brentford, the swines, had clocked after 45 minutes that our two centre backs are as quick as the queue at the Post Office and started knocking balls in behind them for their three forwards to chase. The first of these had Ollie Watkins, who you may remember for his recent Jack Laugher effort at Barnet in the FA Cup, the wrong side of Grant Hall and tumbling to earth in a coming together. Never a penalty in a thousand fucking years. Maupay went to the keeper’s left with the kick, which was an odd choice given that Joe Lumley has meekly flopped down to his left for every penalty he’s faced so far, and the keeper really should have saved it but didn’t. It was the fifth penalty Stroud has awarded against QPR in his last ten games with us.

Brentford: Bentley 6; Barbet 7, Konsa 7, Jeanvier 7; Dalsgaard 8, Mokotojo 8, Sawyers 8, Odubajo 7; Watkins 7 (Marcondes 81, -), Maupay 8, Benrahma 8 (Canos 82, -)

Subs not used: McEachran, Gunnarsson, Da Silva, Ogbene

Goals: Maupay 50 (penalty, won Watkins), Benrahma 71 (assisted Maupay), Canos 90+5 (assisted Mokotjo)

Bookings: Dalsgaard 67 (foul), Sawyers 77 (kicking ball away)

QPR: Lumley 7; Furlong 5, Hall 5, Leistner 5, Bidwell 5; Luongo 6, Cousins 5; Freeman 5, Eze 5 (Osayi-Samuel 63, 5), Wszolek 6 (Smith 77, 5); Wells 5 (Hemed 73, 4)

Subs not used: Ingram, Scowen, Manning, Lynch

Bookings: Hall 49 (foul), Osayi-Samuel 64 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 3 A referee 15 years on the job and at least five years past his sell-by date. When he was removed from the list two seasons ago for thinking encroachment at a penalty was a free kick to the defending team rather than a retake at Newcastle v Burton that should have been it. Thanks for the long service Keith, carriage clock, now fuck off. But still he’s here, still refereeing Championship games, still overruling correct decisions from linesmen and replacing them with incorrect ones, still penalising tiny little indiscretions while waving play on through players being elbowed in the back of the head, still awarding nonsense penalties, still treating each of his escalating disasters with that same patronising grimace and ‘calm down’ hand gesture to anybody who complains about them. The personification of short man syndrome — a tiny man with a tiny penis and a chip on both shoulders. An absolute liability. Little short of a scandal that he’s still officiating at this level despite mounting evidence that he’s simply not up to it. Refereeing’s Chris Grayling.

QPR 3 Ipswich 0, Wednesday December 26, 2018, Championship

In the ‘not very good’ pile, Town somehow contrived to concoct a catastrophic loss of possession in their own penalty box after 50 seconds of play which allowed Ebere Eze to get the first shot of the game away at goalkeeper Dean Gerken. In the ‘not very lucky’ category, Paul Lambert’s side packed the six-yard-box for their first corner of the game after 19 minutes and won a dangerous flicked header at the near post through defender Matthew Pennington only to find that they’d put too many of their own men on the goalline and the ball bounced back into relative safety off one of them. And as for ‘just plain weird’, an excellent ball from Eze to the onrushing Furlong after four minutes saw the young defender inexplicably taken out at the face by Luke Chambers. Face mask, defence, automatic first down, first yellow card of the game from referee Keith Stroud. Luke Freeman tried to catch out Gerken with a direct free kick instead of a cross but it was saved.

I swear that pedantic little arsehole is only still refereeing at all because his wife can’t stand him being around the house, straightening the pictures and moving the fucking ornaments half an inch to the left all the live long day.

QPR: Lumley 7; Furlong 7, Leistner 7, Lynch 7, Bidwell 7; Luongo 8, Scowen 7; Wszolek 8, Eze 6 (Chair 70, 7), Freeman 7 (Osayi-Samuel 88. -); Wells 8 (Oteh 84, -)

Subs not used: Ingram, Hall, Cousins, Smith

Goals: Wszolek 30 (assisted Wells), Lynch 32 (assisted Freeman), Wells 74 (assisted Chair)

Bookings: Wszolek 43 (foul)

Ipswich: Gerken 3; Spence 5, Chambers 4, Pennington 5, Knudsen 5; Nolan 4 (Roberts 70, 5), Chalobah 6, Downes 5; Ward 5 (Lankester 62, 5), Harrison 5, Sears 5

Subs not used: Edwards, Jackson, Dozzell, Kenlock, Bialkowksi

Bookings: Chambers 4 (foul). Spence 49 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 6 Nothing major wrong, but ends up taking long pauses followed by a complete guess at a decision far, far too often for somebody trusted to referee at this level and his pedantry over the placement of every single free kick and throw in and exactly the right place could drain the life from a hyper-active eight-year-old.

Bristol City 2 QPR 0, Saturday January 27, 2017, Championship

The sending off really colours this one against Holloway, his team and the approach they took. It was a red card as well — Nathan Baker airborne, two feet, scissor motion, hours late on Josh Scowen as the two chased a loose ball in midfield. Daft tackle in the modern game and current climate, daft tackle in the 1970s come to that. A proper Mark Dennis vintage. There’s a replay of it from behind where the facial expression of Baker’s team mate Joe Bryan tells you everything you need to know.

There was an initial flurry of chances, and had one gone in as it easily could have done, then who knows where the final score would have ended up and what I’d be saying here. Oteh dragged a shot through the goal mouth from a tight angle after good approach work by Luongo initially. Then when Stroud awarded a free kick on the edge of the area for a foul on Smith when it actually looked like the big striker had simply taken a fresh air shot at the ball a complicated set piece routine ended with Jack Robinson smashing a shot into the wall. As the ball was lofted back in stand-in keeper Jason Steele flapped at the ball, Luongo tried to convert with a diving header and Wright blocked on the line with his chest. Later Onuoha wasn’t a million miles with a near post flick at a Freeman corner but City broke four v two from that despite their numerical disadvantage and Smithies did well to deny Corey Smith. From there QPR died away once more, and Lee Johnson’s side grew in stature.

City: Steele 6; Wright 7, Flint 6, Baker 5; Bryan 8, Kent 6 (Magnusson 64, 6); Pack 7, Smith 7, Paterson 7 (Brownhill 64, 7); Reid 7, Diedhiou 7 (Diony 74, 6)

Subs not used: Walsh, Woodrow, Eliasson, Wollacott

Goals: Diedhiou 45+1 (assisted Paterson), Bryan 66 (assisted Diedhiou)

Red Cards: Baker 32 (serious foul play)

Yellow Cards: Reid 84 (foul)

QPR: Smithies 6; Baptiste 3 (Smith 46, 5), Onuoha 5, Robinson 6; Furlong 5 (Osayi-Samuel 74, 5), Bidwell 5; Scowen 5, Luongo 5, Freeman 5; Oteh 5 (Eze 74, 5), Washington 5

Subs not used: Lynch, Ingram, Manning, Perch

Yellow Cards: Luongo 80 (foul), Smith 83 (repetitive fouling), Onuoha 83 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 7 Sending off absolutely correct despite lack of appeals (why are we the only team that doesn't surround referees?) and although the free kick for the first goal was harsh they always get given.

Millwall 1 QPR 0, Friday December 30, 2017, Championship

Millwall: Archer 6; Romeo 7, Hutchinson 7, Cooper 7, Meredith 7; Wallace 8, Tunnicliffe 6, Saville 7, O’Brien 6 (Williams 69, 6); Morison 7, Gregory 7 (Onyedinma 81, -)

Subs not used: Craig, Thompson, Martin, Twardek, Mbulu

Goals: Morison 55 (assisted Wallace)

Bookings: Cooper 90 (foul)

QPR: Smithies 6; Baptiste 6, Onuoha 6, Hall 6; Wszolek 5 (Smith 56, 5), Bidwell 6; Luongo 5, Cousins 5, Freeman 6; Osayi-Samuel 6 (Oteh 69, 6), Sylla 5 (Wheeler 81, -)

Subs not used: Furlong, Washington, Manning, Lumley

Bookings: Wszolek 51 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 8 Really, very good. A terrifying appointment when it was announced, given his recent record with QPR and his now out dated and always frustrating method of trying to manage games with lots of early cards, but he controlled this well, only produced two wholly justified bookings and overall was very decent. Points off for allowing Jordan Archer to blatantly run the clock in the second half without so much as a warning — not that he needed to — and for an incident in the first half where he saw Steve Morison hold back Grant Hall in the area preventing him getting out to block a cross and pointed at the Millwall man telling him not to do it again but didn’t award Rangers a free kick even though the home team had the ball and were threatening a goal. Kept a lid on a tough game.

QPR 1 Sheffield United 0, Tuesday October 31, 2017, Championship

United kept visiting that left side, where Jordan Cousins was having a difficult evening as a makeshift right wing back. He saw yellow, perhaps harshly, from referee Keith Stroud, then in extended first half stoppage time got skinned again by Brooks only for Alex Smithies to rescue him by diving headlong through the ensuing six-yard-box scramble to claim the ball and kill the chance.

QPR: Smithies 7; Baptiste 8, Robinson 8, Bidwell 7; Cousins 5 (Furlong 57, 7), Wheeler 6 (Manning 87, -); Scowen 7, Luongo 7, Freeman 7; Sylla 6 (Mackie 67, 6), Washington 6

Subs not used: Smith, Wszolek, Ngbakoto, Lumley

Goals: Sylla 4 (assisted Baptiste)

Yellows: Cousins 28 (foul), Scowen 90+1 (foul)

Sheff Utd: Blackman — (Moore 10, 5); Basham 6, Carter-Vickers 5, O’Connell 6; Baldock 6 (Duffy 60, 6), Stevens 6; Lundstram 6, Coutts 6, Brooks 7; Clarke 4, Donaldson 5 (Sharp 56, 6)

Subs not used: Hanson, Stearman, Lafferty, Carruthers

Yellows: Clarke 29 (foul), Brooks 90+1 (unsporting)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 6 After a couple of seasons of hammering QPR (four penalties awarded against us and three of our players sent off in seven matches) we actually got the rub of a bit of green from him on Tuesday — particularly two obvious fouls on their wingers on the Ellerslie Road side of the ground in dangerous positions right at the end of the first half which drew justified ire from the large travelling support. Cousins booking harsh, Clarke booking justified but didn’t feel like it was coming until the crowd went a bit mental, called the Brooks thing right at the end of the game — not a red card. Fine, relatively. I suspect a Sheff Utd fan would give him a four.

QPR 1 Fulham 1, Saturday January 21, 2017, Championship

With the home crowd sensing Fulham could be here for the taking, referee Keith Stroud then happened, as he so often does. Sone Aluko dribbled into the area and hit the deck under the faintest of tickles from Bidwell.

There was another flashpoint minutes later when Cairney, sick of being stalked by Manning, reacted by shoving the QPR youngster. Stroud’s decided to book Cairney, Joel Lynch and Martin for their part in the handbags. It was a breath-taking end to a richly entertaining game involving two progressive teams.

QPR: Smithies 8; Furlong 7, Onuoha 7, Lynch 7, Bidwell 7; Manning 8, Hall 7 (Perch 90, -) Luongo 8; Mackie 7 (Lua-Lua 83, 6), Wszolek 7, Sylla 7 (Washington 68, 5)

Subs not used: Ingram, Doughty, Shodipo, Ngbakoto

Goals: Manning 25 (unassisted)

Bookings: Furlong (foul), Luongo (foul), Manning (foul), Sylla (handball), Lynch (fighting)

Fulham: Button 6; Ream 6, Kalas 7, McDonald 5; Fredericks 5 (Odoi 45, 6), Malone 6; Johansen 6, Cairney 6, Piazon 7 (Sessegnon 77, 6); Aluko 6 (Smith 88,-), Martin 6

Subs not used: Sigurdsson, Parker, Bettinelli, Madl

Goals: Martin 75 (assisted Cairney)

Bookings: Fredericks (dissent), Cairney (pushing), Martin (fighting)

Referee — Keith Stroud (West Mids) 3 Three QPR appointments this season, 19 yellows, two reds and two opposition penalties. Overall this season he’s booked 144 players and sent 11 off in just 29 games. Puts himself under pressure early in games — here by awarding the ludicrous Fulham penalty for an obvious dive, and showing a very harsh yellow card to Darnell Furlong. That sets the standards of what is a foul and what is a yellow card ridiculously low, and means you end up with another eight booked and a final ten minutes littered with scuffles, fights and touchline rows between frustrated players and managers. He’s been in the game a long time, and it’s probably about time the kit bag went in the cupboard under the stairs for good — a referee in alarming form.

Brighton 3 QPR 0, Tuesday December 27, 2016, Championship

In fact it took until the fifty second minute to put the seal on it. Seven minutes of constant pressure from Hughton’s side after half time drew a rash tackle from Massimo Luongo on Dale Stephens in the area — Murray, unperturbed by Alex Smithies’ five penalty saves during 2016, coolly and crisply smacking the ball into the bottom corner from the penalty spot.

So far so predictable, from Brighton, from Stroud, and from our beleaguered Queens Park Rangers. Every defeat is treated like the outbreak of Ebola in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in this age of social media and the babies were getting nervous in their bathwater long before the full time whistle.

Brighton: Stockdale 6; Bruno 7, Dunk 6, Duffy 6, Bong 6; Knockaert 7, Stephens 7, Norwood 8, March 8 (Murphy 68, 6); Murray 8 (Hamed 71, 6), Baldock 7 (Skalak 77, 6)

Subs not used: Mäenpää, Sidwell, Goldson, Hunt

Goals: Baldock 11 (assisted Stephens), Murray 53 (penalty won Stephens), Knockaert 69 (assisted Murray)

QPR: Smithies 5; Perch 2, Onuoha 3, Hall 5, Bidwell 5; Borysiuk 5 (Mackie 59, 5) Cousins 5 (Sandro 80, -), Luongo 4; Ngbakoto 4 (Kakay 81, -), Wzsolek 5, Sylla 5

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

Red Cards: Onuoha 56 (professional foul)

Bookings: Sylla 80 (dissent)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 5 Penalty decision obviously correct, and thankfully no repeat of the card frenzy from his last QPR appointment, or his last Brighton one for that matter, but the Onuoha red card is an absolute crock of shit. Bad defending certainly, but barely a foul at all let alone a sending off. Whoever is in charge of the newly professionalised Championship referees need to be asking why one of them feels the need to book and dismiss so many more players than any of his colleagues — now 117 yellows and nine reds from this official in just 25 matches this season.

Forest 1 QPR 1, Saturday November 5, 2016, Championship

To make matters worse, Rangers had also been reduced to ten men just before the goal. Now Keith Stroud has been on the refereeing circuit a long time, and at one point was something of a lucky official for QPR who avoided defeat in their first ten outings with him over several years. But he’s been a growing pain in the arse of late, starting a few years ago on this ground when a second Forest goal to seal the game was allowed despite the linesman flagging it offside. Last year at MK Dons he awarded two penalties to the hosts, and denied QPR a cast iron one of their own. He’s always had a touch of the short-man syndrome about him, but he’s started to referee games these days like somebody who doesn’t actually enjoy refereeing any more, or football at all in fact, and only keeps doing it because his wife can’t stand him fussing around the house all Saturday afternoon. If that is the case, somebody get this lunatic an allotment or something quick.

Two abysmal teams and a dreadful referee, pure Championship stuff, but it had been an uplifting final half hour from Rangers winning them a point they more than deserved. It felt like a corner had been turned, that Hasselbaink had finally seen the value of committing more men to the attack, of supporting the main striker, of using genuine wingers and giving them the ball in wide areas, of getting crosses into the box, of using Shodipo more. But we’ve been here before. The same thing happened at the end of the Fulham game, where Sylla scored a similar goal, and in the final quarter of an hour at Huddersfield, where Sylla scored an identical goal. It happens all the time but you just knew, deep down, that in a fortnight’s time against Norwich when Rangers take the field again it would have been back to one isolated man up top, fielding long hopeful punts down the field with no support, with no width, and no crosses, until it all went to shit and the wingers were finally sent on from the bench.

Forest: Stojkovic 4; Pereira 5, Mills 5, Perquis 6, Lichaj 6; Worrall 6, Kasami 6, Cohen 5 (Lam 82, -), Lansbury 6, Osborn 5; Asombalonga 7 (Vellios 90+3, -)

Subs not used: Dumitru, Fox, Lica, Henderson, Grant

Goals: Assombalonga 38 (assisted Kasami)

Red Cards: Pereira 71 (two bookings, see below)

Bookings: Deep breath… Worrall 50 (foul), Stojkovic 61 (time wasting), Pereira 66 (time wasting), Cohen 68 (foul), Pereira 71 (foul), Lichaj 90+3 (foul)

QPR: Smithies 7; Perch 6, Onouha 5, Hall 6, Robinson 6 (El Khayati 84, -); Henry 3, Cousins 6; Wzsolek 5 (Shodipo 55, 7), Chery 5, Washington 6 (Sylla 77, 7); Polter 6

Subs not used: Lynch, Gladwin, Ingram, Hamalainen

Goals: Sylla 85 (assisted El Khayati)

Red Cards: Henry 34 (two bookings, see below)

Bookings: Henry 11 (dissent), Henry 34 (foul), Robinson 67 (foul), Sylla 86 (over celebrating)

Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 2 Just such utter, utter bullshit from the very first whistle to the last. Ten yellow cards and two reds in a game without a serious foul in it. Seven minutes of stoppage time. Long, drawn out conversations with players over every incident. Yellow cards flashed to players where, even with the benefit of watching it back on the video afterwards, you couldn’t possibly fathom why. Lost control of this with the time still in single figures and never regained it. A nonsense display, completely inept, maddening, farcical. Two poor teams and a shite referee, that’ll be £25 a ticket please — Championship.

QPR 1 Blackburn 1, Saturday September 10, 2016, Championship

Around the hour mark Blackburn completely took over the game, starting with a free kick from a mindless foul by Perch on Marshall for which was rightly yellow carded by referee Keith Stroud. That led to the first of several goal mouth scrambles which Alex Smithies was able to defuse by falling on a loose ball a yard out. Within two minutes Smithies was diving left to parry a long distance volley from Marshall and when the resulting corner was delivered from that, the ball again spent an age bouncing and bobbling around perilously close to the QPR goal with nobody able to apply a killer touch.

Referee Keith Stroud didn’t help this — allowing Charlie Mulgrew to piss around on the field for a good minute in the first half while play was stopped so Rovers could prepare a substitute to go on instead of him. Start the game and let them play with ten until he’s ready for goodness sake. He managed to find five yellow cards in a match of only one bad tackle (by James Perch) — Mo Shodipo booked for the tackle of the game in the second half.

QPR: Smithies 6; Perch 6, Onuoha 6, Hall 6, Bidwell 6; Henry 5, Cousins 6; Shodipo 7, Chery 6, El Khayati 5 (Sylla 80, -); Polter 5 (Washington 46, 6)

Subs not used: Borysiuk, Kakay, Ingram, Paul, Caulker

Goals: Chery 65 (free kick, won Washington)

Bookings: Shodipo 50 (foul), Perch 61 (foul)

Blackburn: Steele 7; Lowe 6, Hoban 6, Greer 6, Wiliams 6; Mulgrew 5 (Evans 34, 6); Conway 7, Akpan 6, Marshall 6, Gallagher 6 (Emnes 77, 5); Graham 5 (Samuelsen 83, -)

Subs not used: Feeney, Byrne, Guthrie, Raya

Goals: Gallagher (assisted Evans)

Bookings: Williams 42 (foul), Akpan 47 (kicking ball away), Lowe 65 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 6 Just annoying really. Nothing that wrong, although the booking for Shodipo looked a bit of a joke to me. Just a bit picky, further hampering the pace of an already sluggish game.

MK Dons 2 QOR 0, Saturday March 5, 2016, Championship

Jake Forster-Caskey was booked for diving in the penalty area by referee Keith Stroud after just four minutes but it took until 35 for the hosts to register their first shot on goal — Darren Potter’s effort so ridiculously high and wide that it might still be travelling now.

Substitute Ben Reeves took the spot kick this time and lashed it straight down the middle into the net. A vital win for MK Dons at the bottom of the league; back to the drawing board for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and his team.

MK Dons: Martin 6; Baldock 6, McFadzean 6, Kay 6, Lewington 6; Forster-Caskey 6 (Reeves 89, -), Potter 6, Murphy 5 (Hall 87, -), Bowditch 6; Williams 7; Revell 6

Subs not used: Powell, Cropper, Spence, Maynard

Goals: Lewington 49 (assisted Bowditch), Reeves (penalty 90+3 won Hall)

Bookings: Forster Caskey 4 (diving), Murphy 79 (unsporting conduct) Carruthers 89 (diving)

QPR: Smithies 6; Onuoha 5, Angella 5, Hall 6 (Konchesky 46, 2), Perch 5; Henry 5, Tozser 5 (Phillips 58, 5); Chery 5 (Polter 71, 6), Luongo 6, El Khayati 5; Washington 5

Subs not used: Faurlin, Ingram, Diakite, Petrasso

Bookings: Henry 79 (nothing very much at all)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 4 Perhaps somebody should check whether everything is alright at home. Five separate penalty incidents here, two yellow cards for diving which looked about right, one penalty awarded against Konchesky which was the correct decision, one awarded against Karl Henry which was soft and one blatant handball from Lewington that was missed entirely. Chuck in his insistence that every piece of physical contact in the game was a foul, and the yellow card for Karl Henry when he’d done little more than stand there and have a home player try to start a fight with him, and this was a bit of a farce all in all.

QPR 1 Hull City 2, Friday January 1, 2016, Championship

Little to choose between the sides then, and so it continued after half time. Rangers appealed in vain to referee Keith Stroud that a swift counter attack between Faurlin and Tjaronn Chery had been interrupted illegally by a Hull hand as they tried to free Matt Phillips. Hull, meanwhile, continued to get Clucas, and on this occasion Robertson, free at the far post as balls were delivered from the right flank. Onuoha got across to block Robertson’s volley on the hour.

Referee Stroud might have done more to break up a prolonged, gratuitous, prayer meeting among the Hull players in the penalty area in the aftermath — and several flagrant examples of timewasting thereafter — but in the end he settled for merely adding five minutes to the end of the match and by the end of that we wished he hadn’t bothered at all.

QPR: Green 2; Onuoha 5, Hall 6, Angella 6, Konchesky 6; Faurlin 6, Henry 5 (Fer 71, 4); Phillips 6, Chery 6 (Luongo 85, -), Hoilett 6 (Mackie 78, 6); Polter 6

Subs not used: Smithies, Tozser, Diakite, Petrasso

Goals: Polter 86 (assisted Phillips)

Yellow Cards: Hoilett 73 (foul), Angella 90+1 (foul)

Hull City: McGregor 6; Odubajo 6, Davies 6, Maguire 6, Robertson 7; Elmohamady 5 (Snodgrass 65, 6), Livermore 6, Diame 6 (Diomande 86, -), Clucas 7; Hernandez 6 (Huddlestone 81, -), Meyler 6

Subs not used: Taylor, Maloney, Jukupovic, Aluko

Goals: Hernandez 61 (assisted Diame), Diomande 90 (assisted Green)

Yellow Cards: Maguire 34 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 7 Controlled the game reasonably well, all cards justified, but could have clamped down more on the time wasting at 1-0. Mind you, he did add five minutes, which we now rather wish he hadn’t.

Derby County 1 QPR 0, Tuesday November 3, 2015, Championship

They settled for one, crisply and accurately volleyed into the net by Andreas Weimann from 15 yards out after a touch off from Richard Keogh that had a hint of handball about it. Chris Ramsey was keen to point to that apparent mistake by referee Keith Stroud, but there didn’t look to be a lot in it at first glance despite Rob Green’s protests and really those complaints missed the point. Derby deserved to go ahead, QPR had done nowhere near enough to stop it happening since the second half began.

I’d say that rather summed Phillips and QPR up, but there was a better microcosm still to come. James Perch had already been booked for one reckless lunge on Stephen Warnock, and been penalised for a foul throw after repeatedly ignoring Stroud’s warnings about pinching yards whenever the ball went out, when he launched into an injury time tackle on Chris Martin. This was a challenge so utterly moronic it almost looked like he wanted the second yellow so he didn’t have to play on Saturday. Executed high, late, from behind, on a player with his back to goal going nowhere, it was one of the thickest pieces of play I’ve ever seen. Not only that, but having left his team to chase the game with ten men through six minutes of injury time, Perch then walked off the field rather than running, wasting even more of the precious few seconds that were left.

Derby: Carson 6; Christie 6, Shackell 6, Keogh 6, Forsyth 6 (Warnock 21, 6 (Baird 77, 6); Hendrick 6 (Hanson 83, -), Johnson 7, Butterfield 7; Russell 6, Martin 6, Weimann 7

Subs not used: Grant, Bryson, Bent Pearce

Goals: Weimann (assisted Keogh)

Bookings: Christie 41 (ungentlemanly), Johnson 57 (dissent), Weimann 85 (foul), Russell 90 (kicking ball away)

QPR: Green 6; Perch 4, Onuoha 6, Hall 7, Konchesky 5; Henry 6, Faurlin 6 (Blackwood 84, -), Tozser 6 (Fer 76, 5), Yun 7 (Hoilett 66, 5); Austin 6, Phillips 5

Subs not used: Doughty, Smithies, Angella, Polter

Red Cards: Perch 89 (two yellows)

Bookings: Yun 41 (ungentlemanly), Austin 48 (foul), Perch 72 (foul), Perch 89 (foul), Fer 90+2 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud 5 Chris Ramsey felt there was a handball in the lead up to the Derby goal but on first glance without a replay I didn’t think there was a lot in it, and that’s all the referee gets to see. The foul on Junior Hoilett by Scott Carson in the second half was a penalty, however, and looked exactly that at the time. By awarding a goal kick, he was admitting that the keeper didn’t get any of the ball. Perch red card absolutely correct.

Forest 2 QPR 0, Thursday December 26, 2013, Championship

If you were looking for microcosms of this QPR performance, how about Henry panicking under more pressure from Lansbury and falling on the ball hoping for a free kick? Referee Keith Stroud, who QPR had never lost with in 11 previous appointments, rightly penalised the former Wolves midfielder for handball. Or, moments later, Richard Dunne’s all-too casual square ball on the edge of his own area that Abdoun, stunned by the laziness of his opponent perhaps, handled as he attempted to spring through on goal.

The old adage about playing to the whistle sprang to mind. The lazy reaction of the QPR players to the incident, followed by a good two minutes of bitching and moaning at the officials, typified their overall attitude to the game and performance on the night. The goal summed Forest up as well: bright, alive, positive, enthusiastic and opportunistic. Just rewards for Reid and his team.

Forest: Darlow 6; Jara 6, Lascelles 6, Hobbs 7, Lichaj 6; Vaughan 6 (Chalobah 67, 6), Lansbury 8; Mackie 7 (Derbyshire 86, -), Reid 7, Abdoun 8 (Paterson 82, -); Halford 6

Subs not used: Harding, Majewski, de Vries, Osborn

Goals: Halford 29 (assisted Abdoun), Reid 80 (assisted Abdoun)

Bookings: Darlow 84 (time wasting)

QPR: Green 6; Simpson 6, Dunne 5, Hill 6, Assou-Ekotto 5; Carroll 6, Henry 3 (Hoilett 45, 5); Phillips 5 (Benayoun 76, 5), Jenas 4, Kranjcar 6; Zamora 2 (Johnson 45, 6)

Subs not used: Traore, Wright-Phillips, Onuoha, Murphy

Bookings: Assou-Ekotto 48 (foul)

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 8 Much was made of the second goal, and the wide angle replays suggest that Stroud wasn’t nearly as certain as he made out and seemed to play on initially under heavy protest from the Forest bench, but ultimately the decision — like almost every other one he made on the evening — was correct and QPR had only themselves to blame.

Stats

Four Championship fixtures so far this season, with 17 yellows and no reds. Last year he finished with 106 yellows and two reds in 38 games and cemented his unfathomable place near the summit of the EFL’s referee rankings with another date in the play-offs at Blackpool’s 3-3 semi-final draw at home to Oxford. He had four Bournemouth appointments and they had an excellent record with him — a 4-0 win at Barnsley, 4-1 win at Millwall, 1-0 home success against Rotherham, and penalties upset against Palace in the League Cup after a 0-0 draw. In 2019/20 he also booked 106 in 32 games, with four red cards including Ricoh Henry’s sending off in another play-off semi-final, Swansea v Brentford, which was overturned on appeal.

The Twitter/Instagram @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

Action Images

xianwol added 10:42 - Sep 13 Interesting that not a single player from the Brentford game in March 2019 is still with us and everyone in the Nottingham game earlier this year is, tho some on loan.
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