No, it’s not a mistake. Saturday’s referee at Chesterfield really does share his name with our manager.
Followers of league football will be aware this coincidence existed, as referee Keith Hill has been on the National List since 1998, although he recently spent a year abroad working for the FA.
His first Rochdale game was at Peterborough in his debut season, but there was no joy for Dale that day as we went down to a 2-0 defeat.
And to bring his league refereeing career full circle, Keith’s last Dale appointment was at Peterborough in February, where we went down 2-1 after conceding twice in the first seven minutes.
The full list of Keith’s Rochdale matches is:
Oct 98 Peterborough (a), L 0-2
Mar 99 Leyton Orient (a), L 0-3
Jan 00 York (h), W 2-1
Sep 02 Kidderminster (a), D 0-0
Mar 03 Exeter (a), D 1-1
May 03 Macclesfield (a), L 2-3
Mar 04 Doncaster (h), D 1-1
Mar 06 Grimsby (h), D 2-2
Aug 06 Notts Co (h), L 0-1
Jan 07 Bristol R (h), L 0-1
Sep 10 MK Dons (a), D 1-1
Nov 13 Torquay (a, FAC), W 2-0
Feb 15 Peterborough (a), L 1-2
So far this season Keith has refereed three games. Hull v Huddersfield on the opening day of the campaign, Doncaster v Leeds in the Capital One Cup last Thursday and Colchester v Oldham on Tuesday.