Seasoned campaigner Graham Salisbury will referee Dale in the Checkatrade Trophy for the second time this season when we host Chesterfield on Tuesday.

The Preston whistler was the man in the middle for our opening group game against Sunderland in September when a 1-1 draw was followed by Dale earning a bonus point by winning on penalties.

Graham has been a regular at our fixtures down the years and this will be his fourth Dale appointment in 2016.

He refereed the first game of the year at Walsall when Dale recorded a thoroughly-deserved 3-0 win at the home of the promotion-chasing Saddlers.

Six weeks later he was at the Crown Oil Arena for the visit of Millwall, a game The Lions won 1-0 with a goal that many thought was offside, but was actually nowhere near.

This game will be Mr Salisbury’s 16th match involving Dale, two of which were notable 4-2 away wins.

In March 2010 he was the referee for the 4-2 victory at Accrington which, as it transpired, proved to be the game that took Dale up from League Two.

Eighteen months later, in September 2011, Graham took charge of the 4-2 win at bury, in which Nicky Adams scored and was then sent-off for picking up a second yellow card after removing his shirt and waving it round his head!

The full list of Graham’s Dale matches is:

Oct 01 Rochdale v Southport (LDV) W 2-0

Aug 04 Rochdale v Bury L 0-3

Oct 05 Rochdale v Notts Co W 3-0

Nov 05 Tranmere v Rochdale (LDV) L 2-3

Dec 05 Rochdale v Leyton Orient L 2-4

Apr 06 Notts Co v Rochdale D 1-1

Nov 08 Rochdale v Macclesfield D 1-1

Jul 09 Radcliffe v Rochdale (F) W 1-0

Dec 09 Rochdale v Morecambe W 4-1

Mar 10 Accrington v Rochdale W 4-2

Mar 11 Rochdale v Notts Co W 1-0

Sep 11 Bury v Rochdale W 4-2

Mar 12 Rochdale v Oldham W 3-2

Jan 16 Walsall v Rochdale W 3-0

Feb 16 Rochdale v Millwall L 0-1

Sep 16 Rochdale v Sunderland (CT) D 1-1 (won on pens)

Other news involving Graham is that his son, Michael Salisbury, was promoted to the National List of referees this season and has so far taken charge of games in League One and League Two, as well as Chesterfield’s FA Cup tie versus Wycombe on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Graham was the fourth official at Blackburn v Huddersfield at the weekend, but as the man in the middle he has refereed 19 games this term, showing 53 yellow cards and two red.

Photo: Action Images

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