When Dale won at Bradford in January, their manager, Phil Parkinson, a Southerner (although born in bury) moaned about the referee, saying “They have dragged him all the way up from Surrey for this match.”

Hopefully Paul Dickov will be saying similar on Saturday night as Gavin Ward, who was in charge of that Bradford fixture, is the man in the middle for Dale’s trip to the Keepmoat Stadium to take on Doncaster.

Parkinson’s main gripe was the early dismissal of his goalkeeper for bringing down Matty Done, although Calvin Andrew’s dramatic last minute winner probably twisted his views somewhat.

Before that game, we had last seen Gavin at Cheltenham in October 2013 where two late Ian Henderson goals helped Dale come from behind to record a crucial 2-1 win on their way to promotion.

In total, he has officiated at seven previous Dale matches since joining the league list in 2007, with varying outcomes:

Jan 2008 v Wycombe (a), W 1-0

Mar 2009 v Barnet (a), L 1-2

May 2011 v Bournemouth (a), W 2-1

Oct 2011 v Bournemouth (a), D 1-1

Aug 2012 v Torquay (a), L 2-4

Oct 2013 v Cheltenham (a), W 2-1

Jan 2015 v Bradford (a), W 2-1

So far this season Mr Ward has refereed 30 matches, showing 110 yellow cards and nine red.

He was most recently at Exeter v Newport on Easter Monday.

Photo: Action Images

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