Fast tracked Premier League referee Sam Allison will take charge of QPR at Loftus Road for the first time this Saturday as Sheff Wed visit West London.

Referee >>> Sam Allison (Trowbridge), in charge for Sunderland’s controversial disallowed goal at Derby during the week.

Assistants >>> Andrew Fox (Warwickshire) and Carl Fitch-Jackson (Suffolk)

Fourth Official >>> Will Finnie (Reading)

History

Swansea 0 QPR 1, Monday April 1, 2024, Championship

To start the second half Cifuentes experimented with removing a midfielder and adding a second striker in Sinclair Armstrong. Well, we’ve all put a Mento in a bottle of Coke when we were young I suppose. The resulting geyser spewed out a cross for Jerry Yates at the back post (put off just enough by a robust airborne challenge from Fox which I was surprised didn't yield louder penalty appeals to excellent referee Sam Allison), an inopportune slip by Jack Colback and enormous recovery challenge by the excellent Jake Clarke-Salter, and a free kick lifted over the top of the wall and off the face of the crossbar by Matt Grimes.

Swansea: Rushworth 6; Key 7, Darling 6, Wood 7, Tymon 7; Grimes 6, Allen 5 (Fulton 35, 6); Ronald 6 (Govea 84, -), Cooper 5 (Walsh 68, 5), Lowe 5 (Paterson 67, 5); Yates 4 (Cullen 67, 5)

Subs not used: Fisher, Cabango, Patino, Abdulai

QPR: Begovic 7; Dunne 7, Cook 8, Clarke-Salter 8, Fox 7; Colback 6 (Hayden 58, 6), Field 7; Smyth 6 (Frey 81, -), Hodge 5 (Armstrong 46, 6), Chair 6 (Willock 74, 6); Dykes 5 (Andersen 58, 7)

Subs not used: Dixon-Bonner, Cannon, Larkeche, Walsh

Goals: Cook 71 (assisted Dunne)

Referee – Sam Allison (Trowbridge) 8 How to referee a football match.

Stats

Allison is a fire fighter and former footballer with Swindon, Bristol City and Exeter who became just the second ever black referee in the top flight, following Uriah Rennie, when he joined the list last season. Further reading here and here.

Allison joined the League One and Two list in 2020/21 starting off with 102 yellows and one red in 35 games, followed by 126 and seven in 31 games the year after. His first Championship games came in 2022/23 when he finished up with 119 yellows and four reds in 35 games and he’s part of a select group of younger officials being fast tracked through to try and freshen up the Premier League list with Luton’s 3-2 win at Sheff Utd and 4-3 loss at Bournemouth his first two games at that level.

Last season he finished up on a very steady 125 yellows (3.6) and one red from 34 games. That was easily led by eight yellows and a red at Leicester v Watford, and included Sheff Wed’s 2-0 home defeat by Leeds. So far this season he’s booked 87 (4.83) and sent one off in 18 games. He’s only done two Premier League games among those, both involving Ipswich away at Man City and Southampton, with eight yellows in the latter game his biggest haul.

Sheff Wed have had a mixed experience with him this season – a 6-2 home loss to Watford where the visitors were awarded two pens, and a 2-1 home win against Stoke where they had Di’Shon Bernard sent off in the first half. Wednesday are 2-0-2 from four appointments.

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