Experienced Football League referee Eddie Ilderton is the man in the middle when Dale entertain Coventry in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday.

Mr Ilderton is in 14th season as a league referee and Tuesday will be his 14th appointment at Spotland.

In fact, Spotland was the venue for his first Football League game on the opening day of the 2002/03 campaign when Dale recorded a 1-0 win over Leyton Orient.

Just four months earlier Eddie was one of the assistant referees when we lost at home to Rushden & Diamonds in the play-offs.

He has been a frequent official at Dale games since then and we last saw him in March for the 2-1 defeat of Yeovil.

Eddie also refereed Dale’s 3-0 home win over Oxford in March 2014, in which Scott Hogan netted a fine hat-trick, as well as the 1-1 draw with Gillingham last October.

The full list of Mr Ilderton’s Dale matches as a referee is:

Aug 02 Rochdale v Leyton Orient W 1-0

Feb 03 Darlington v Rochdale W 1-0

Apr 03 Rochdale v Kidderminster L 0-1

Sep 03 Lincoln v Rochdale D 1-1

Sep 04 Rochdale v Scarborough (LDV) W 4-1

Nov 04 Rochdale v Oxford (FAC) W 2-1

Dec 04 Rochdale v Bristol R D 0-0

Aug 05 Rochdale v Macclesfield W 3-1

Apr 06 Rochdale v Peterborough W 1-0

Feb 07 Notts Co v Rochdale W 2-1

Oct 07 Rochdale v Bury (JPT) L 1-3

Mar 11 Rochdale v Charlton W 2-0

Jul 11 Crewe v Rochdale (friendly) L 1-2

Aug 11 Oldham v Rochdale L 0-2

Apr 12 Rochdale v Sheffield U L 2-5

Nov 13 Morecambe v Rochdale W 2-1

Mar 14 Rochdale v Oxford W 3-0

Oct 14 Rochdale v Gillingham D 1-1

Mar 14 Rochdale v Yeovil W 2-1

This will be Eddie’s second appointment of the season after he officiated the controversial game between Doncaster and Bury on Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

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