Dale fans will be hoping history doesn’t repeat itself when referee Gary Sutton takes charge of Saturday’s match at Plymouth.
The last time we saw the Lincolnshire official in Devon was on that disappointing day in April 2010 when around 1,000 supporters travelled to Torquay hoping to celebrate promotion, only for the team to lose 5-0!
We also met Mr Sutton at the first match of this season when he refereed the 4-3 home loss to Barnsley in the Capital One Cup.
All told, Gary has overseen eight Dale matches and we haven’t won any of them! If this run ends on Saturday, there’s every chance a Mexican Wave might even make an appearance at Home Park!
His full list of Dale matches is:
Aug 2005 v Cheltenham (h), D 1-1
Dec 2005 v Wrexham (a), L 1-2
Nov 2006 v Barnet (a), L 2-3
Aug 2009 v Rotherham (a), L 1-2
Apr 2010 v Torquay (a), L 0-5
Feb 2011 v Walsall (a), D 0-0
Nov 2011 v Brentford (h), L 1-2
Aug 2012 v Barnsley (h, LC), L 3-4
So far this season Mr Sutton refereed 7 games, showing 21 yellow cards and one red, which we should all remember being issued to Barnsley’s goalkeeper for his altercation with Ray Putterill.