Scott in charge of Doncaster visit - referee
Tuesday, 31st Dec 2013 15:33 by Clive Whittingham

Graham Scott is the man in the middle for QPR’s New Year’s Day match at home to Doncaster Rovers.

Referee >>> Graham Scott (Oxfordshire), third QPR appointment of his career, first since 2010

Assistants >>> Simon Barrow (Staffordshire) and Neil Hair (Cambridgeshire)

Fourth Official >>> Mick Russell (Hertfordshire)

Previously

Leicester 0 QPR 2, Saturday September 18, 2010, Championship

After that though Leicester launched their first really serious attack of the game and that signalled a period of pressure that lasted the best part of an hour. It began with a poor decision from rookie referee Graham Scott. He bought a ridiculous dive from Dyer tight to the touchline under minimal pressure from Clint Hill. The QPR man was actually laughing at his opponent such was the nonsense of it all but nevertheless Leicester were able to pump a ball into the box, which was then cleared for a corner. QPR managed to scramble that delivery out of the penalty box as well but couldn’t clear their lines completely and when the ball was knocked back in behind the visiting backline Richie Wellens was faced with a very presentable situation with the ball at his feet, the goal and a plethora of options in front of him and not a QPR man in sight. Selfishly, he took on the shot from a difficult angle and fired the ball over the bar to his team mates’ obvious disgust.

Leicester were back on the attack within seconds and Wellens was unfortunate to see his effort on goal smuggled away by the massed ranks of the QPR defence who then immediately set Adel Taarabt away on the counter attack and when he was cynically blocked off by Bruno Berner a yellow card was the referee’s only option. The resulting free kick was lofted into the Leicester penalty area and tempted Carl Ikeme from his line. Heidar Helguson challenged for the ball, completely legitimately and with his hands down by his side, but a free kick was immediately awarded when Ikeme dropped the ball. This happened on another two occasions in this match and was, frankly, pathetic, abysmal goalkeeping relieved by cowardice from the referee.

Mr Scott had a tough second half in the middle, but at times I felt he made life harder for himself. Things were never going to be easy for the match officials once Leicester had sent on Steve Howard, a big bruising centre forward who seems to revel in games against QPR. Within seconds of coming on there was an incident in the penalty area under a high ball which had the home fans at that end of the ground screaming for a penalty and Howard nursing a wound to his face. I can’t pretend to have seen what happened from the other end of the ground but the Leicester fans appealed as one and Howard didn’t injure his own face did he? I sense we may have escaped with one there.

Paul Gallagher was introduced for Lloyd Dyer who had faded as the game progressed.
Matty Fryatt also hit one straight at Kenny but the keeper had to be at his best when King let fly from range and he turned the shot aside at full stretch. A further penalty appeal, again from Howard, was survived on 80 minutes as the big man got stuck between Connolly and Gorkss as a cross came in — that one looked like a run of the mill collision rather than anything else, but after giving three other much more meagre fouls against Ikeme the referee left himself open to appeals for anything and everything.

Leicester: Ikeme 5, Neilson 6, Morrison 5, Hobbs 7, Berner 6, Oakley 6 (Howard 63, 7), King 7, Wellens 7, Dyer 7 (Gallagher 58, 7), Fryatt 7, Waghorn 7

Subs Not Used: Logan, Miguel Vitor, Moreno, Abe, Moussa

Booked: Berner (foul), Waghorn (foul)

QPR: Kenny 8, Walker 7, Connolly 9, Gorkss 8, Hill 7, Derry 8, Buzsaky 5, Taarabt 6 (Leigertwood 78, 7), Ephraim 6, Mackie 8 (Smith 89, -), Helguson 6 (Agyemang 73, 6)

Subs Not Used: Cerny, German, Parker, Rowlands

Booked: Walker (time wasting), Buzsaky (foul)

Goals: Mackie 12 (assisted Taarabt), 86 (assisted Leigertwood)

Referee: Graham Scott (Oxfordshire) 4 Looked increasingly like a man losing the plot as the game went on. There was an incident in the second half where Mackie pushed the ball past his man and appeared to be impeded as it ran out for a throw in. Scott gave a Leicester throw without looking at his linesman who’d given a free kick and this resulted in a 30 second farce that ended with the assistant overruling the referee. He booked four, but let others off with much worse. Leicester were irate that he missed their penalty appeal, QPR were furious to see Walker wrongly flagged offside when through on goal and Mackie having a goal disallowed. He panicked and awarded a free kick whenever a goalkeeper was challenged, or even touched, and when you look at what Blackburn got away with against Fulham on the same afternoon you’ve got to ask where the consistency is in the game. Overall it was not the best example of Championship refereeing I’ve ever seen.

QPR 0 Norwich City 1, Tuesday March 3, 2009, Championship

QPR were the better team in this match and should have won, but the goal that beat them was a defensive shambles of the highest order and it could have been worse had rookie referee Graham Scott stuck to his guns when he initially awarded Norwich a first half penalty but later downgraded it to a corner.

Former Man City winger Lee Croft, still looking like he could do to lose a few pounds, ran onto a ball in the right channel and pushed it past Lopez. He appeared to have overrun the ball but hit the deck under challenge from Lopez. Referee Scott was in close attendance and pointed straight to the penalty spot much to the rage of the QPR players and fans in the Lower Loft. The outraged reaction sent Scott scurrying across to his linesman and after a brief consultation he changed his mind and awarded a corner which in turn sent Croft and his team mates, hands on head, racing across or protests and explanation.

This is an interesting trend that has developed this season. Before the kick off in August I think I could count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times I have seen a referee change his mind over a penalty but this season I have already seen it happen five or six times. It hardly reinforces the message that the referee’s decision is final and is to be respected — players are being rewarded for crowding and intimidating the match official. Still, if the right decision is made in the end it should not really matter how it is reached. On this occasion I felt Croft had run the ball out of play and was looking for a penalty as a runner up prize for his efforts, however having said that I don’t think Lopez got much of the ball so it was either a goal kick or a penalty. A lucky escape either way.

QPR had their own dispute with a linesman within two minutes. A corner from Lopez was missed completely by Marshall at the near post and nodded towards the empty net by Wayne Routledge, Gary Doherty got something on the ball but then very coolly, and rather stupidly, allowed it to bounce so Marshall could have another bash at claiming the ball which he did from either dead on or just behind the goal line. Routledge appealed frantically to the match officials but no goal was forthcoming leading one wit in the F Block to suggest the Loft End linesman might like to run the full length of the pitch to help us out.

QPR: Cerny 3, Connolly 5, Stewart 5, Gorkss 4 (Hall 87, -), Delaney 4, Leigertwood 6, Routledge 6, Miller 5 (Ephraim 69, 6), Lopez 7, Helguson 4 (Di Carmine 74, 6), Blackstock 4

Subs Not Used: Mahon, Alberti

Norwich: Marshall 5, Otsemobor 5, Shackell 6, Doherty 6, Grounds 7, Croft 6, Clingan 6, Russell 6, Bertrand 6, Hoolahan 6 (Gow 70, 5) Cort 6

Subs Not Used: Nelson, Carney, Lappin, McDonald

Booked: Bertrand (kicking the ball away), Croft (foul)

Goals: Russell 68 (assisted Hoolahan)

Referee: Graham Scott (Devon) 7 The penalty decision apart this game was relatively incident free for the new boy on the Championship list. I felt he controlled the game well and showed a good deal of common sense — only once blowing his whistle when an advantage could have been played (in the second half as Delaney brought the ball out and was fouled) and he immediately apologised for that. The question of changing your mind on penalties is one I will address later in the week.

Stats

Scott has been pretty handy with the red cards so far this season with five in his first six games and nine in total across 17 games to go with 62 yellows (3.64 a game). His biggest haul in a single game was seven yellows and two reds in a 0-0 draw between Reading and Brighton at the stat of the campaign. Just six of his games so far have been in the Championship — he showed eight yellows and no reds in four of those, and 13 yellows and three reds in the other two.

Last season he showed 106 yellows and eight reds in 36 games (2.944 bookings a game) — the sending off total boosted somewhat by three yellows in one game between Leeds and Brighton at the end of the season. He refereed Doncaster’s 1-1 draw at Hartlepool in November, with the home team’s goal coming from the penalty spot.

Other Listings

Premier League >>> Howard Webb gets Man Utd v Spurs.

Championship >>> Two Premier League referees drop down to the second tier for New Year’s Day action — Michael Oliver has Reading v Forest and Chris Foy is at Birmingham v Barnsley. Stuart Attwell has Ipswich v Charlton.

League Two >>> Trevor Kettle has Mansfield v Burton.

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Pictures — Action Images

Photo: Action Images

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