QPR hope for Chelsea repeat with Foy appointment
Wednesday, 11th Jan 2012 21:13 by Clive Whittingham

Chris Foy, the referee who dismissed two Chelsea players and awarded Rangers a penalty at Loftus Road earlier this season, is in charge of this Sunday’s trip to Newcastle.

Referee >>> Chris Foy (St Helens), refereed QPR’s only home win of the season so far, a 1-0 victory against Chelsea sending two of the visiting players off in the process.

Assistants >>> Jake Collin (Liverpool) and William Smallwood (Cheshire)

Fourth Official >>> Tony Bates (Staffordshire), given a 1/10 rating by LFW last season for his performance in our away win at Barnsley, the lowest mark of any official all season.

History

QPR 1 Chelsea 0, Saturday October 22, 2011, Premiership

Helguson v David Luiz and John Terry is a modern day heart-warming tale from the writers who brought you Leroy Griffiths v Marcel Dessaily. For all the intricacies of the modern game, and Warnock's QPR side, it was a goal right out the Championship manual of route one football that gave QPR the lead ten minutes into this match. Paddy Kenny, rotund and resplendent in yellow, launched a drop kick down the field which Helguson manoeuvred himself onto in the penalty area and then hit the deck under a moronic challenge from David Luiz. It seems that while your talented Brazilian centre back costs you £20m these days, the brain is an optional extra that Chelsea scrimped on. Did Helguson make the most of the push in the small of his back? Absolutely. The trick, as Luiz should know full well, is not to give him the opportunity.

The now traditional row between Adel Taarabt and everybody else over who was to take the crucial spot kick ended with Helguson stepping up and finding the top corner with a shot that Peter Cech in the Chelsea goal got a strong hand to and probably should have done better with.

Much is said and written about Adel Taarabt, most of it unhelpful and much of it his own fault, but Neil Warnock may well resolve after this game that his partnership with Shaun Wright Phillips is worth having him on the field for more often than not. Their link up play against Newcastle on this ground earlier in the season was more than the still unbeaten Magpies could handle and although both have been quiet of late they combined wonderfully on the half hour to set up the second of three key moments in the first half. Taarabt's through ball was out of the top drawer and Wright Phillips had the awareness to position himself inside Chelsea fullback Bosingwa and the pace to accelerate away from him. He was felled, quite clearly, on his way to goal – Chelsea appeals that John Terry was coming round to cover are ludicrous unless the use of high-powered motorcycles has suddenly been legalised for England international defenders in tough situations. Referee Chris Foy swooped in, awarded the free kick and sent Bosingwa off. The cheer from the Loft will have been heard in the Chelsea heartlands of Surrey and Sussex. Sadly Taarabt's salt rubbing exercise found only the hands of Cech as he curled the resulting free kick around the wall.

Perhaps Andre Villas Boas' plan was to go in at half time, have a quick reminder of who everybody actually was, and then come out and return to business as usual. If it was, then a minute before the breakit had to be torn up and re-written. Drogba, completely dominated by Anton Ferdinand playing the game of his life, miscontrolled a ball on the QPR side of the halfway line and in a foolhardy attempt to retrieve it launched into a vile two footed lunge on Adel Taarabt. It could kindly be described as a striker's tackle. More accurately it was an obvious straight red card and for all Chelsea 's protestations Chris Foy had almost no option.

That said, presentable chances came and went. Luke Young, highlighting the profit to be made from dwelling in wide areas, accelerated into the penalty are but dragged a poor right footed shot across the goal and wide. And Chelsea were by no means perfect, their indiscipline permeating every facet of their game throughout the second half. Mikel was shown a yellow card for a hack at Taarabt which gave Faurlin a shooting chance with a free kick but he could only find the Chelsea wall. Ivanovic took a turn at chopping the Moroccan down five minutes later and was booked, as was Luiz for tripped Ferdinand as he marauded forward from the back. Then, in a moment that only QPR could conjure, Taarabt was worked into a prime shooting position on the edge of the penalty area only to be tackled brilliantly by Luke Young. Farce.

There were cards too for Shaun Derry and Joey Barton who both fulfilled the dreams of many in the stands by kicking Frank Lampard but it was Chelsea drawing Chris Foy’s attention more often than not.

Chelsea's post match fury was directed almost entirely in the direction of the match officials – as you would expect from a side reduced to nine men and losing to a disputed penalty. But somewhere deep within the bowels of Stamford Bridge must be an acknowledgement that the discipline required of a team in this situation was almost completely lacking. John Terry became the latest Chelsea player booked when he got embroiled in an argument with Paddy Kenny who objected to being deliberately taken out after he'd claimed a high cross. Our former England captain, the son of a drug dealing father and a shoplifting mother, reduced to deliberately knocking a fat goalkeeper to the ground and forced after the game to deny he’d racially abused QPR defenderAnton Ferdinand. This is England.

Elsewhere David Luiz continued his giant hairy wrecking ball act with an obvious elbow on Clint Hill as the pair waited for a loose ball to fall from the sky. Had Foy not already dismissed two visiting players I'm convinced Luiz, already booked remember, would have walked.

Chelsea will be fined £25,000 for totting up seven yellow cards and two reds in this match and they have little grounds for complaint in any of the nine cases. But the hackles of manager Andre Villas Boas (quite a young fella apparently) were justifiably raised by two quickfire penalty decisions that should have gone their way. First Frank Lampard, full of self pity and sporting the seemingly fixed expression of a man who believes he’s terribly hard done to, fell in the area under significant contact from Fitz Hall. The ball would probably have run through to Kenny anyway but that’s not strictly relevant, this looked like a penalty to me. As did Heidar Helguson’s overly familiar wrestle with David Luiz under a cross from the opposite flank minutes later. Again the Chelsea fans and players appealed, again Foy showed no interest – they have every right to feel aggrieved on both counts and Meireles was booked for his protests.

Barton crashed to the earth leaving the already carded Cole facing the prospect of an increasingly crowded early bath but Foy took pity on him and blew for full time instead. Cole, reprieved, spent the immediate post match squaring up to any QPR player he could get within shouting distance of, adding further doubt to Ray Wilkins’ assertion during a commentary earlier this season that he is a “wonderful man”.

QPR: Kenny 7, Young 7, Ferdinand 9, Hall 8, Hill 8, Derry 7 (Mackie 81, -), Faurlin 7, Wright-Phillips 7, Barton 7, Taarabt 7 (Smith 61, 6), Helguson 8

Subs Not Used: Murphy, Orr, Bothroyd, Buzsaky, Puncheon

Booked: Derry (foul), Barton (foul)

Goals: Helguson 10 (penalty, won Helguson)

Chelsea: Cech 6, Bosingwa 5, Terry 6, Luiz 5, Cole 6, Mikel 6, Meireles 7 (Malouda 72, 6), Lampard 7, Sturridge 6 (Ivanovic 36, 6), Drogba 5, Mata 6 (Anelka 45, 7)

Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Romeu, McEachran, Kalou

Sent Off: Bosingwa (33), Drogba (41)

Booked: Mikel (foul), Lampard (foul), Ivanovic (foul), Luiz (repetitive fouling), Meireles (dissent), Cole (foul), Terry (ungentlemanly conduct)

Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside) 5 Chelsea are clearly fuming with the officials, as you would expect them to be given the circumstances. I can’t imagine Neil Warnock and the QPR fans bemoaning their own ill-discipline had the roles been reversed – a witch hunt is more likely. Obviously as a QPR fan I’m very happy with the decisions Mr Foy made on Sunday and the three biggest ones of all I think he got right – the penalty was a penalty, the first red card was an obvious goalscoring opportunity, the Didier Drogba tackle was one out of the Alan Hutton house of horrors. But there were other big calls he got wrong. Having awarded Heidar Helguson a penalty it then seemed odd that he waved away appeals from first Lampard and then Luiz in very similar circumstances. Both looked like penalties to me. Similarly having sent off Drogba and Bosingwa correctly why was first Luiz and then right at the end Cole allowed to escape without reds when they clearly deserved them? I thought he deserved credit for being brave in the face of huge pressure and dissent but it’s impossible to mark a referee too highly when, in my opinion, four big decisions in the game were wrong.

Reading 0 QPR 0, Saturday October 25, 2008, Championship

QPR’s only booking of the match went to Daniel Parejo, seemingly for kicking the ball away after a foul although it was difficult to tell and looked harsh. The Spaniard was possibly lucky to avoid a sending off having been booked because within seconds he was theatrically collapsing in the penalty area as the ball ran out for a goal kick, Bikey was in close attendance and Parejo obviously wanted to buy a penalty from him but Foy was in an excellent position to judge the amount of contact and there was none. Parejo was withdrawn a short time after that for Balanta who had little time to do anything other than win a time wasting free kick in injury time.

Reading: Hahnemann 6, Rosenior 6, Bikey 5, Ingimarsson 7, Armstrong 6, Kebe 7 (Long 80, -), Gunnarsson 6 (Harper 73, 6), Karacan 6 (Cisse 73, 6), Stephen Hunt 6, Noel Hunt 6, Doyle 6

Subs Not Used: Andersen, Kelly

Booked: Rosenior (foul)

QPR: Cerny 8, Leigertwood 8, Stewart 8, Hall 7, Connolly 7, Buzsaky 6, Mahon 7, Rowlands 7, Cook 5, Di Carmine 5 (Blackstock 60, 7), Parejo 6 (Balanta 86, -)

Subs Not Used: Delaney, Tommasi, Cole

Booked: Parejo (kicking the ball away)

Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside) 7 Pretty decent overall. One or two decisions I would question and I think Reading probably should have had a penalty for the Mahon handball although that was more a linesman’s call than Foy’s – his past record shows that if there’s a penalty to be given he normally gives it so we were fortunate there. Other than that hard to argue with much he did.

Watford 2 QPR 4, Saturday December 29, 2008

Youngster Angelo Balanta had made a nervy start to his full QPR debut, but he showed the touch and confidence of a seasoned professional in the 13th minute when he cut in from the left wing onto his right foot and curled a beautiful 30 yard pass into the path of Dexter Blackstock running into the area. The ball cut between Matt Jackson and Jordan Stewart perfectly and when the latter tried to recover the situation with a robust body check on Blackstock there was only one decision the referee could make and Chris Foy rightly pointed straight to the spot.

The last time Rangers had a penalty Martin Rowlands almost uprooted the post at Charlton Athletic but he made no mistake this time, firing an equally powerful shot into the corner with Lee diving the wrong way.

Plenty of QPR eyes will have been on Watford right back Lloyd Doyley who has been strongly linked with a move to W12 this transfer window. Boothroyd said last week that we couldn't afford him, not sure he's even convincing himself with that one, but he looked decent enough to me. Certainly better than anything we have in that position at the moment. He's got a handy long throw to go with his solid defence and overlapping runs. Not the greatest crosser of the ball though.

He was involved in one of the more bizarre moments I've seen this season midway through the first half. QPR cleared yet another Watford free kick down the field and Doyley, left back as the last man, was left to turn and chase as the ball bounced over the halfway line. He then inexplicably picked the ball up, presumably thinking he'd heard a whistle from the referee. After a stunned moment of silence where players, officials and supporters wondered what the hell was going on Foy whistled and awarded QPR a free kick, Doyley then realised that Bolder and Blackstock were keen to get a quick free kick taken that would have left QPR with three players steaming through on goal unchecked so he threw the ball away and picked up a booking for his troubles.

It was important having gone 3-0 up to see that through until half time. With QPR developing a taste this season for conceding goals in injury time there were a few groans and grumbles when Foy added four minutes onto the end of the first period - presumably for the treatment required by Ainsworth and by Watford keeper Richard Lee who had earlier rolled around theatrically trying to get Dexter Blackstock booked after they'd both challenged for a through ball - needless to say he was soon up on his feet and fine again.

Watford: Lee 5, Doyley 6 (O'Toole 79, -), DeMerit 4, Jackson 3 (Shittu 46, 7), Stewart 5, Smith 6, Williamson 6, Francis 6, McAnuff 6, Darius Henderson 6, Ellington 5 (King 68, 6)

Subs Not Used: Mariappa, Ainsworth

Booked: Doyley (throwing the ball away), Smith (foul)

Goals: Camp og 52, Shittu 84 (assisted Henderson)

QPR: Camp 7, Barker 7, Rehman 7, Stewart 8, Malcolm 7, Bolder 7, Rowlands 9, Ainsworth 6 (Vine 64, 6), Balanta 6 (Buzsaky 73, 7), Nygaard 6 (Walton 90, -), Blackstock 6

Subs Not Used: Cole, Moore

Booked: Nygaard (foul), Barker (foul)

Goals: Rowlands 13 pen, Stewart 29 (assisted Rowlands), Rowlands 40 (assisted Balanta), Buzsaky 80 (assisted Rowlands)

Referee - Chris Foy (St Helens) 7 - Refereed the game calmly and sensibly, though a couple of the cards were harsh and once or twice he awarded Watford soft free kicks but overall he allowed the game to flow as best he could and got the big decisions right. Pretty decent all in all.

QPR 0 Wolves 1, Saturday December 16, 2006

QPR: Royce 8, Bignot 5, Rehman 6, Mancienne 8, Milanese 8, Rowlands 5, Smith 4, Bircham 6 (Furlong 66, 4), Gallen 4, Ray Jones 5, Blackstock 4.

Subs Not Used: Cole, Ward, Baidoo, Bailey.

Wolverhampton: Murray 8, Little 7, Breen 7, Craddock 7, McNamara 7,Kightly 8, Olofinjana 7, Potter 8, McIndoe 8, Bothroyd 7,Craig Davies 7 (Clarke 76, 6).

Subs Not Used: Oakes, Edwards, Johnson, Ricketts.

Booked: Breen, Bothroyd.

Goals: Kightly 49.

Referee: C Foy (Merseyside) 5 - Overly fussy over the placing of free kicks and throw ins, never played the advantage rule, failed to clamp down on time wasting. All in all and irritating official.

Prior to that Foy was the man in the middle for the memorable 1-0 home win against Swindon at the end of the 2003/04 promotion season that kept Rangers on course for the Championship. Two years previously he’d been in charge of a 0-0 West London derby between the R’s and Brentford at Loftus Road. In our relegation season from this division, 2000/01, he was in the middle for a 1-1 draw at Sheff Utd when that rare and beautiful thing – a Sammy Koejoe goal – occurred. A 2-1 QPR win at home to Walsall, 3-1 win at Portsmouth (both in 1999/00) and 1-0 loss at Grimsby a year earlier complete a QPR profile that overall boasts four Rangers wins, four draws and just two defeats.

Stats

QPR’s game against Chelsea is just one of several highly controversial fixtures Foy has been involved with this season. Last week he ridiculously sent off Vincent Kompany in the FA Cup Third Round tie between the two Manchester clubs, and then let Ryan Giggs off without even a yellow card for a much worse tackle a minute later. He also denied both teams blatant second half penalties. He didn’t fare much better at Stoke v Spurs earlier in the year, a performance that left Harry Redknapp justifiably fuming after the game.

Overall he has shown 46 yellows and seven reds in 17 matches this season (2.7 yellows a game). Not surprisingly his biggest haul in a single match was the nine yellows and two reds shown in our match with Chelsea.

Last season he showed 89 yellows (2.61 a game) and four reds in 34 games. Something seemed to change in him in February last season – up to February 1 he had shown 46 yellows and no reds in 21 matches, then in the remaining 13 appointments he showed 43 yellows and four reds.

His only Newcastle appointment so far this season was at Man City where they lost 3-1 and the hosts were awarded two penalty kicks.

Other listings

Premiership >>> Mark Clattenburg was added to UEFA’s Elite List this week, which means he can now expect Champions League appointments. This weekend he has Villa v Everton. Howard Webb takes Liverpool v Stoke.

Championship >>> Problem child Gabin Ward has Ipswich v Blackpool while two Premiership officials drop down for high profile fixtures. Jon Moss has Millwall v Birmingham, Kevin Friend has Portsmouth v West Ham.

League One >>> The disciplinary committee may have upheld Joey Barton’s red card against Norwich, but the manner in which the decision was reached was always questionable and tellingly referee Neil Swarbrick is dropped two divisions this weekend. He has Sheff Wed v Charlton.

League Two >>> Our old chum Andy D’Urso has Rotherham v Swindon.

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