Geoff Eltringham is the man in the middle for Dale’s trip to the Fylde Coast to face Fleetwood on Saturday.

This is the first time we have seen the County Durham official since the opening day of last season when he refereed Dale’s home game against Peterborough.

Further back in time, Mr Eltringham was the referee for our FA Cup defeat at home to FC United of Manchester in November 2010, while earlier that season he had taken charge of the Carling Cup win at Barnsley.

All told, Geoff has been in the middle for seven previous Dale games:

Sep 09 Bradford (h, JPT), L 1-2

Aug 10 Barnsley (a, CC), W 1-0

Nov 10 FC United (h, FAC), L 2-3

Sep 11 Scunthorpe (h), W 1-0

Apr 13 Plymouth (h), W 1-0

Feb 14 Morecambe (h), W 2-1

Aug 14 Peterborough (h), L 0-1

So far this season he has refereed four matches, showing seven yellow cards and no red. His most recent appointment was Rotherham v Fulham in the Championship last Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

Rochdale Polls