West Yorkshire referee David Coote is the man in the middle for Dale’s home game versus Bolton on Tuesday.

The Halifax-based whistler is in his seventh season on the league list, but this will be only his third appearance at the Crown Oil Arena.

His first was in February 2015 when David refereed the 1-0 league defeat of Chesterfield.

He was most recently in these parts last November for Dale’s disappointing 1-0 home loss to Morecambe in the JPT.

We have, however, met Mr Coote in two away fixtures, although at those times he was based in Nottinghamshire.

In February 2012 David refereed Dale’s rather dire 0-0 draw at Colchester, but ten men months later he took charge of a significantly more exciting game in which John Coleman’s team won 4-2 at Bradford.

Mr Coote spent most of his first season refereeing in League One and League Two, but has since progressed to referee mainly in the Championship.

His performances at the higher level were rewarded in May 2014 when David was appointed as the referee for the League One play-off final at Wembley in which Rotherham came from 2-0 down to defeat Leyton Orient 3-2.

Further Championship games last term, allied with good marks from clubs and assessors, saw Mr Coote become one of the referees to join the newly-formed Select Group 2 list for this season.

These referees take charge of Championship fixtures, as well as the more high profile games in the lower divisions.

David has refereed Ipswich v Norwich and Barnsley v Reading in recent weeks, while on Saturday he was in charge of Rotherham v Cardiff.

Last Tuesday, Coote was the man in the middle at White Hart Lane for Tottenham v Gillingham in the EFL Cup.

Before that game he had refereed seven matches this term, showing 24 yellow cards and one red.

Photo: Action Images

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