Darren Bond is the man in the middle for Dale’s trip to Scunthorpe on Bank Holiday Monday.

The Wigan whistler is in his fourth season on the league list and has made such good progress that he took charge of Sheffield United v Swindon in last term’s play-offs and is a regular at Championship fixtures, including the recent Middlesbrough v Birmingham encounter.

Dale last saw Darren at Oldham in March, but it was a game we would rather forget as The Latics eased to a 3-0 win.

Before that he had refereed the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie at home to Fleetwood in September 2012, which Dale won on penalties after a 2-2 draw.

Before the start of the festive fixtures, Darren had refereed 17 games this term, showing 54 yellow cards and two red.

Photo: Action Images

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