Paul Tierney is the man in the middle for the reaaranged Tuesday night fixture between QPR and Plymouth at Loftus Road - only his second ever Championship appointment.

QPR v Plymouth Argyle
Referee: Paul Tierney (Lancashire)
Assistants – Scregg (Merseyside) and Whiteley (West Yorkshire)
Fourth Official – Graham (Manchester)

Let me start by saying a huge welcome back to Premiership referee Mark Halsey who has Leicester v Scunthorpe reserves at Hinckley on Tuesday night - his first game back after treatment for throat cancer. Halsey is a QPR fan, and a damn fine referee and it's great to see him back so soon after being diagnosed just before the first game of the season. Throat cancer can be a vile disease with grave outcomes and it's fantastic to see Halsey battle through it and come out the other side.

It's a new face in the middle of Tuesday night's clash between QPR and Plymouth at Loftus Road - match official Paul Tierney is in his first season on the league list and this is only his second game at this level. While his overall stats, 44 yellows (2.75 a game) and four reds from 16 matches, are nothing to really write home about his haul of eight yellows and a red in the Scunthorpe v Crystal Palace fixture earlier this season, his only Championship appointment to date, should set alarm bells ringing - particularly as Neil Warnock is now our manager.

Four of the yellows went to Palace players that day as they won 2-1 with a Neil Danns goal in injury time - Scunthorpe's Marcus Williams was the man sent off. Tierney booked six and sent one off in a game between Grimsby and Cheltenham the week before but has failed to show a card in the other two of his last four games. Last season he showed 38 yellows (2.375 a game) and one red in 16 matches in the Conference and Trophy competitions.

The only thing of note to really say about this appointment is that it seems a little unfair of the league to be dragging four officials from Lancashire, Merseyside, West Yorkshire and Manchester down for a game in London on a Tuesday. Still, they didn't give us Plymouth away on Boxing Day this season so let's not complain too loudly eh?

Elsewhere Trevor Kettle has Watford v Swansea while Jarnail Singh is in charge of Peterborough v Sheff Utd. Andy Hall has Bury v Darlington in league Two while the man currently bottom of our referee league this season Rob Shoebridge has Tranmere v Leeds. Looking further ahead we have Anthony Bates for Saturday's trip to Sheff Utd, he last refereed us in a 2-0 defeat at Doncaster before Christmas.

Photo: Action Images

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