Fulham 17 : 0 Brentford – the most amazing play-off match stat of all

The oddest thing has emerged about Tuesday’s match referee, Bradford’s Martin Atkinson. It seems from significant research that he has never refereed Brentford in a long and illustrious career spanning 16 years.

The EPL referee has of course not officiated Brentford or Fulham side this season but he did call four of Fulham’s matches in their last Premier League season.

Troublingly for the Cottagers, they didn’t win any of them, drawing with Watford and Newcastle and losing to Burnley and Manchester City. He didn’t however show any red cards to Fulham players, and didn’t book any of them more than once. So he’s not mad at any of them!

He also refereed Fulham’s loss at Reading in the 2016/17 play-off semi final. He booked Kevin McDonald and Stefan Johansen that day.

The streak in which Fulham do not win on his watch stretches all the way back to 2013.

On March 8 2014, he refereed Fulham’s 3-1 loss at Cardiff. On November 30, 2013, he was the whistler when Fulham lost 3-0 at West Ham.

You have to go back to September 24, 2013 to find Mr Atkinson refereeing a Fulham win, a 2-1 League Cup win over Everton. On one sour note, he did book now Whites manager Scott Parker that day!

On March 24 2010, he was in charge when the Cottagers lost an FA Cup tie 3-1 at Spurs.

In the 2008/9 season, he refereed three Fulham wins, against Arsenal, Newcastle and West Brom, and in the 2006/7 season, home wins over Everton and Stoke.

That’s 14 matches by our count and still no sign of Brentford.

In 2005/6, he called Fulham’s home wins over Charlton and Liverpool and their 4-2 loss at Old Trafford. Which we think brings us to 17.

Despite making his league debut on August 21, 2004 at Coventry v Millwall, it seems he has never refereed a Brentford match but has called Fulham 17 times.

Among the teams he has refereed in his career are Shaxtat Soligorsk of Belarus, NK Domžale of Slovenia, Norway’s Under 21s and Argentina. But the man from Bradford has never met the men from Brentford.

Let the conspiracy theories begin!

Match Preview: Brentford v Fulham: The deciding factors in West London’s biggest derby ever?

Full Championship Coverage

The Play-offs

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt

Share and Enjoy !

Shares
Steve Clare

Recent Posts

USWNT finishes January Camp with rout of Chile

Different location, different outlook, but the same result nonetheless. Playing its second friendly in four…

6 hours ago

Soccer on the Sound: Stars get home sweep of Utica

Tacoma Stars 7-6 Utica City FC (OT); Tacoma Stars 8-6 Utica City FC KENT, WA--Tacoma…

2 days ago

Revolution battle to 1-1 draw in 105 minute match versus FC Cincinnati

FOXBOROUGH, MA– New England Revolution (1-1-0, 4 pts.) battled to a 1-1 draw versus FC…

3 days ago

Alex Bono traded to D.C. United for up to $150,000 in GAM

FOXBOROUGH, MA– The New England Revolution have traded goalkeeper Alex Bono to D.C. United for up…

3 days ago

Five-star Dons sink a sloppy and sorry Shrewsbury

http://gty.im/2255530894 Callum Paterson marked a memorable milestone by scoring his 100th career goal and registering…

3 days ago

Strong second half propels USWNT past Paraguay

It took a while, but it was certainly worth the wait. Despite spending most of…

4 days ago