Ross Joyce will referee Dale for the second time in two months when they cross the Pennines to Bradford City on Saturday.

The Middlesbrough officials was the man in the middle for our 2-2 draw at Bristol Rovers in September, a game in which Dale finished with ten men after Niall Canavan was sent-off for two yellow cards.

A fortnight before that game, Ross had refereed Bradford’s 1-1 home draw with Oldham.

The 30-year-old is in his second season on the National List and this will be his third game involving Dale.

We first saw him at Crewe in February, when Dale gave a particularly poor performance in losing 2-0 to the relegation-bound Railwaymen.

Ross is one of the EFL’s youngest referees, although he did officiate at Conference level for seven seasons before making the step up.

This culminated in him taking charge of the 2014/15 play-off final between Bristol Rovers and Grimsby in front of over 50,000 fans at Wembley.

Before his promotion Ross had been on the line for several Dale matches, although one — the 3-2 FA Cup loss to FC United — is a game we would rather forget!

So far this season, Mr Joyce has refereed 17 games, showing 80 yellow cards and four red. His most recent appointment was Northampton v Harrow Borough in the FA Cup last Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

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