Roger East, a man with a history with both QPR and Neil Warnock, is the man in the middle at Loftus Road on Saturday.
Referee >>> Roger East (Wiltshire) four seasons on the list, two previous QPR appointments both drawn, no experience with Doncaster
Assistants >>> Tony Mason (Kent) and Chris Powell (Dorset)
Fourth official >>> Gavin Muge (Bedfordshire)
Plymouth 1 QPR 1, Saturday August 15, 2009
Referee Roger East had a reasonable day all in all, although was possibly slightly fussy. There was a lot of whistle from him at times, but not cards which although is usually a relief was not a particularly good thing when Plymouth were kicking Taarabt from pillar to post in the first half and further punishment was probably required. His one really dodgy moment came with little more than twenty minutes left for play. First Taarabt was obviously fouled in the Plymouth half but was told to get up, Argyle then broke and players and fans appealed as one for handball as Fallon’s shot was deflected wide – it did not look like a penalty from the far end of the ground and a corner was the right outcome from where I was.
Plymouth: Larrieu 8, McNamee 6, Seip 6, Timar 6, Sawyer 5, Fletcher 5, Paterson 7 (Duguid 86, -), Judge 7 (Noone 82, -), MacLean 5 (Sheridan 46, 7), Mackie 6, Fallon 7
Subs Not Used: Letheren, Arnason, Summerfield, Johnson
Goals: Gorkss 90 og (assisted Fallon)
QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 6, Hall 7, Gorkss 6, Borrowdale 6, Routledge 7, Leigertwood 7, Mahon 5, Buzsaky 6 (Ephraim 72, 6), Taarabt 7 (Vine 76, 5), Helguson 6 (Agyemang 61, 5)
Subs Not Used: Heaton, Stewart, Pellicori, Connolly
Goals: Helguson 43 (assisted Taarabt)
Referee: Roger East (Wiltshire) 6 Slightly fussy perhaps, and probably should have produced a card for Plymouth’s brutal approach to stopping Adel Taarabt early on in the game, but overall made very few mistakes and did not stand out – which is what you want.
Cardiff 0 QPR 0, Tuesday February 24, 2009
The next forty five minutes were about as well as Cook has played this season after a poor first half. Within two minutes of the restart he had picked the ball up wide on the left touchline, turned and accelerated away from Cardiff’s new arrival and collapsed in a heap on the edge of the penalty area buying a free kick from our referee. Liam Miller sized the free kick up and was clearly aiming low for a gap to be created by Mahon peeling away just before the shot. Sadly Miller’s aim was slightly out and he succeeded only in blasting the ball straight into the gut of one of the blue bricks in the defensive wall.
Cardiff then came back into the match and enjoyed what would turn out to be their last ten minutes of pressure. It all started with Michael Chopra theatrically hitting the deck under minimal contact from Kaspars Gorkss and appealing demonstrably for a penalty to be awarded. It never was. Cheating, plain and simple. Not the first time Chopra has done that in his career, not even the first time he has done it against us. East was absolutely right to wave the appeals away and could even have showed Chopra a yellow card.
The mood among the home fans did not improve much when Parry took Stewart to the byline and was then the victim of a crude lunge by the Jamaican which should have been a free kick and booking at least but was actually given as a QPR goal kick right in front of the most vociferous Cardiff fans. Mr East was not winning many friends in South Wales although having given them a penalty and disallowed a Coventry goal on his last visit here perhaps they have had their fair share of decisions from him this season. QPR completely took over and dominated the game from this point on.
Cardiff: Konstantopoulos 6, McNaughton 8 (Comminges 46, 5), Purse 7, R Johnson 7, Kennedy 7, Parry 6, Rae 6, Ledley 7, Burke 7 (Owusu-Abeyie 73, 6), Chopra 5 (Whittingham 66, 6), McCormack 6
Subs Not Used: E Johnson, Scimeca
QPR: Cerny 7, Connolly 7, Gorkss 8, Stewart 8, Delaney 8, Cook 7, Miller 6 (Alberti 58, 6), Leigertwood 8, Mahon 7 (Blackstock 89, -), Routledge 7, Helguson 6 (Di Carmine 90, -)
Subs Not Used: Hall, Lopez
Booked: Miller (foul), Alberti (foul)
Referee: Roger East (Wiltshire) 6 The Cardiff fans were moaning about him on the radio afterwards but I thought he got both of their penalty appeals absolutely spot on. One was a blatant dive and the other was a good tackle from Gorkss. Should have booked Stewart and Leigertwood for their fouls and was assisted by a truly awful linesman down at our end of the ground but not bad overall.
East has started this season by flashing cards at an alarming rate – 24 yellows already in just five matches, just under five a game. He already has two six card hauls in single matches to his name this campaign. This is his first Championship match of the season although he was at Reading for their 3-3 draw and subsequent defeat on penalties to Northampton in the League Cup in August.
Last season he showed 109 yellows (3.2 a game) and three reds in 34 games. Two of his red cards came in the same game, Exeter v Southend in League One, and he showed eight yellows at Gillingham v Tranmere for his biggest haul of the season. Nine of his appointments were in the Championship in which he showed 27 yellows and no reds.
Neil Warnock has had a run in with this referee before – in October 2009 he accused the referee of not knowing the rules after he awarded Leicester a penalty against his Crystal Palace side and then allowed Paul Gallagher to encroach in the area and score after the kick had been saved by Julian Speroni. Warnock said: “The lad who scores the goal has encroached three yards inside the box when it is kicked. The best thing is he actually brushes past the referee to get to the ball.”
He ran the line for QPR's play off final defeat to Cardiff and lists Andy Campbell's winning goal as a career highlight as he got the offside decision correct and allowed the goal. The swine.
Championship >>> Anthony Taylor’s tough start to the season looks set to continue., Newly promoted to the Premiership this season taylor was branded unfit for purpose by Steve Bruce at Sunderland in week one and then let El Hadj Dioff have free reign of Mark Schwarzer’s face at Blackburn last weekend. He’s back at our level this weekend – but the authorities have given him Leeds v Sheff Utd.
League One >>> Andy D’Urso has Peterborough v MK Dons.
League Two >>> Gavin Ward, who screwed us over at Reading last season, has Cheltenham v Bury. Regular foe Trevor Kettle has Port Vale v Accrington.
Tuesday >>> Premiership referee Lee Probert has the potentially fiery meeting with Millwall on Tuesday, and we have enough history with him to stretch to a small novel which will be published on LFW early next week.
Photo courtesy of Ref World