Dale will meet a new referee on Saturday when Tom Nield takes charge of their League One game against Accrington Stanley.

The West Yorkshire official is in his third season on the referees’ list, but this will be his first appearance at a Rochdale game.

He was due to referee our home fixture against Bristol Rovers in October 2017, but was forced to withdraw a couple of days in advance.

Tom took charge of 29 matches in that debut season, the vast majority in League One and League Two, with a few EFL Trophy ties thrown in along the way.

He was fairly active in the opening months of last term as well, only for injury problems to keep him out of action from December to April.

Mr Nield then returned to officiate three games at the back end of last term and he has continued with nine appointments this season, most recently on Tuesday night at Ipswich v Gillingham in the Leasing.com Trophy.

Photo: Action Images

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