Pat Miller is our referee for this local derby game with Watford on Tuesday night, the first time he has been in charge of a QPR game since New Year’s Day 2008.

Queens Park Rangers v Watford
Referee: Pat Miller (Bedfordshire)
Assistants – Farries (Oxfordshire) and Yeo (Essex)
Fourth Official – Cooper (Kent)
Pat Miller is our referee for this local derby game with Watford on Tuesday night, the first time he has been in charge of a QPR game since New Year’s Day 2008 when the R’s beat Leicester 3-1 at Loftus Road with Luigi De Canio in charge – he showed three yellow cards that day, including one for the R’s Adam Bolder.

Miller was awarded a mark of five by LoftforWords for his performance in that match, and finished joint 22nd on the referee league.

Referee: Pat Miller (Bedfordshire) 5 Pretty average display overall. Not too many cards but a number of poor decisions, including the one to penalise Ainsworth for the free kick that Hume scored – he’d gone close in the first half after Stewart was harshly punished as well. Not too bad but not great either. Standard stuff. LFW Leicester Match Report

That was one of only three Championship matches Miller refereed that season, overall he showed 75 yellows (2.77 a game) and five reds in 27 games. Last season he showed a remarkably similar 77 (2.96 average) and eight in 26 games and then so far this season he has booked 39 (3.25 a game) and sent two off in just 12 matches. His only Championship game of the season so far was a 0-0 draw between Crystal Palace and Doncaster where he booked nobody, his biggest card count from a single game this season is six yellows and a red in a game between Gillingham and Yeovil. His biggest haul last season was ten yellows and a red in a match between Plymouth and Ipswich – after which Plymouth manager Paul Sturrock pulled few punches when asked to comment on his display.

Miller’s previous QPR appointment prior to the Leicester game was the 1-0 win at Coventry in 2007 that all but sealed our Championship survival under John Gregory – Jimmy Smith got the goal, Miller showed five yellow cards including three to QPR players and was given a rating of six after turning up as a late replacement for Uriah Rennie. Earlier in the season he had been marked at seven out of ten for a 3-2 cup win against Northampton at Loftus Road when Gary Waddock was the manager. An average mark of 6/5 saw him placed joint seventh on that season’s referee league.

Referee: Pat Miller 6 A relief not to see Uriah Rennie marching out of the tunnel at five to three and Mr Miller was fairly decent in the first half. In the second though he seemed to lose the game a little bit - starting with his lack of action when it kicked off after McKenzie had refused to kick the ball out with a player injured, and then refused to return it after the restart. Let Page get away with a terrible tackle on Blackstock, and Ainsworth with an equally bad one in injury time. Didn't book Hughes for a blatant and cynical shirt pulling offence, then booked Kanyuka for a similar foul soon after. Very poor second half performance bringing him down from a seven or eight to a five or six. LFW Coventry Match Report

Referee: Pat Miller 7 He did his best to keep his cards in his pocket all evening but had to book Jones when he kicked the ball away in injury time. He wasn't too fussy and didn't really have a great deal to do as both teams played the match in a good spirit. LFW Northampton Match Report

Miller only took up refereeing in 1995 and quickly accelerated through the leagues to join the Football League assistant referees list in 2002.

Normally at this stage I have a look around the list and see where referees that have wronged us in the past are in action – however as I type the players are coming out of the tunnel at Bristol Rovers v Charlton live on Sky and I notice Trevor Kettle is at the front of the line so that’s one of the main ones out of the way. Jarnail Singh has Leeds v Walsall.

Looking further ahead to Saturday we have Dean Whitestone in charge for the visit of Doncaster Rovers – more on him when I have time to draw breath.

For the record, in the time it took me to type those last four lines, Mr Kettle had already booked a player – 12 seconds in – though in fairness Dominic Blizzard really should have been sent off.

Photo: Action Images

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