Dale's leading scorer Ian Henderson will be forced to sit out of the next three games following his sending off at Northampton Town on Saturday.

Henderson was dismissed in the opening quarter of an hour on Saturday after he kicked out at a Northampton defender after the ball had gone out of play. The incident is deemed as being violent conduct and automatically carries a three match ban.

As such, he will miss the trip to Port Vale on Saturday, the replay against Northampton and the home game against Doncaster Rovers. His next possible appearance will be on Tuesday 25th November when we visit MK Dons.

Keith Hill told the press afterwards: “It was a very quick decision from the referee. It was just tit for tat. If I was playing centre-half against Ian Henderson I’d try to get under his skin and that’s what was going on in the first 10 or 15 minutes.

“The defender left a little bit on him after the ball went out of play and Hendo kicked out at him but there was no contact and it was a harsh one for me. At worst it’s a yellow but the referee could have laughed it off and told them both to put their dummies back in."

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