|
"It's sad that our performance will be overshadowed by that of the referee," Ling said after his side had been cruelly robbed of a win at Elland Road. "It will all be about the inaccuracies of the referee. For me, his decision making was mostly wrong, if not all wrong, and he's going to steal the headlines."
He did that without a doubt, but to be fair there were no problems with him the last time he refereed a Burnley game which was our 1-0 win at Birmingham on Easter Saturday earlier this year. Sadly, looking back at other Burnley games there have been some real shockers from Stan Ternent storming onto the pitch to remonstrate with him, to the farcical decisions that ended the QPR away game as a contest three years ago in the first fifteen minutes.
The one thing Miller isn't, and that's card happy, and again this season he has been quiet with just nineteen yellow and two red cards in ten games. One each of the cards have gone to home and away teams whilst the cards are nine to home players and ten to away players.
But worryingly Miller is never too far away from a nightmare, there have just been too many of them. I suppose the consolation is that he was bad last time out and will be under real scrutiny this time. Having said that, he is one of a small group of referees who seriously worries me.
He will be assisted by Keith Lawson (Lincolnshire) and Jock Waugh (South Yorkshire) whilst Stockport referee Scott Mathieson, a veteran of many a Burnley game, will be on the touchline carrying out the fourth official duties.
Previous Burnley games:
Season | Opps | V | Res | Y | R | Burnley players carded |
a | ||||||
2006/07 | Birmingham | a | 1-0 | 3 | 0 | Caldwell |
2006/07 | Sheffield Wed | h | 1-1 | 1 | 0 | J O'Connor |
2005/06 | Stoke | h | 1-0 | 3 | 0 | Duff Hyde Sinclair |
2005/06 | Coventry | h | 4-0 | 0 | 1 | . |
2004/05 | QPR | a | 0-3 | 5 | 0 | Blake Duff McGreal Sinclair |
2004/05 | Bury | a | 3-2 | 1 | 0 | . |
2003/04 | West Brom | h | 1-1 | 4 | 1 | Grant McGregor |