Refwatch Preview: Burton (a)
Dale’s first return fixture of the season at Burton on Boxing Day will be refereed by Bobby Madley.
This will be our second meeting with the Ossett official in the last two months as he was the man in the middle for the JPT tie at home to Bury in October.
The 26-year-old awarded The Shakers a penalty that evening and also sent-off Dale’s Craig Curran and while those decisions were undoubtedly correct, Dale will hope the law of averages comes into play at the Pirelli Stadium.
Mr Madley is in his third season on the league list and this will be his fourth Dale game.
In addition to the Bury match, he refereed the 3-1 home win over Bristol Rovers in February 2011 and the 1-0 loss at Scunthorpe earlier this year.
Bobby has received several important appointments this season, suggesting his ratings from clubs and assessors have been good.
In September he refereed the fiery Nottingham Forest v Derby encounter, while he was recently in charge of Middlesbrough v Wolves.
On Saturday he refereed Blackburn v Brighton and before that game, his season’s totals were 16 games, with 40 yellow cards and three red.
Finally, Bobby’s brother, Andy Madley, is also a Football League referee, who took charge of Dale’s 0-0 draw at Walsall last December and our 3-2 home win over Exeter in April.
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