It's always good to have a friend in the middle and that's exactly what we'll have on Saturday when Kevin Friend is in charge of the Morecambe v Dale clash.

Saturday’s referee won’t be too familiar to Dale fans as we’ve only met him twice before.

Kevin Friend will make the relatively long trip up to Christie Park from Leicester to oversee the first ever league meeting between Dale and the Shrimps.

His last Dale game was at Lincoln in October 2004 when Jamie Clarke came off the bench to secure a 1-1 draw for Steve Parkin’s side.

In August 2003, Mr Friend was in charge of only his second Football League game when Dale took on Cambridge at Spotland.

Dale came from two down to draw 2-2, but the referee made the headlines when he sent-off Chris Shuker for a dreadful lunge.

This season Mr Friend has refereed 11 matches, six of which have been in the Championship.

Last Saturday he was in the middle for Colchester’s exciting 3-2 defeat of West Brom, while back in August, while refereeing Plymouth v Ipswich, he upset the Tractor Boys by sending off Fabian Wilnis in that fixture for the second season running.

Colchester, Plymouth, Morecambe? I’d like to see his mileage claim!

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Photo: Action Images

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