Dale will meet referee Ben Toner for the first time on Tuesday when he takes charge of their League One fixture at Shrewsbury.

The Darwen official is in his first season on the referees’ list and has this will be his 22nd game of the campaign, six of which have been in League One.

The most recent of those was just over a week ago when Ben refereed Sheffield United’s 1-0 defeat of Port Vale at Bramall Lane, while his other League One fixtures have been Doncaster v Swindon, Gillingham v Southend, Burton v Colchester, Bradford v Oldham and Doncaster v Walsall.

A 30-year-old science teacher, Ben is in his first season on the Football League list, although he has already taken charge of a Dale game since this campaign began.

That was against Bury in the Lancashire FA Senior Cup Final at Leyland in August, which The Shakers won 2-1.

In the last three seasons Mr Toner has mainly refereed in the National League and in May he was in the middle for Grimsby v Eastleigh in the play-off semi-final second leg.

He started his league career at AFC Wimbledon v Plymouth in August and in total this term his 21 appointments have produced 77 yellow cards and two red.

Photo: Action Images

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