Experienced Football League referee Eddie Ilderton will be the man in the middle when Sheffield United make their first visit to Spotland in 30 years on Tuesday night.

Mr Ilderton has been a league referee for ten years, with his first appointment coming at Spotland when Dale faced Leyton Orient on the opening day of the 2002/03 season.

Just four months earlier Eddie was one of the assistant referees when we lost at home to Rushden & Diamonds in the play-offs.

He has been a frequent official at Dale games since then and we last saw him in August for the disappointing 2-0 defeat at Oldham.

His last match at Spotland was for Dale’s 2-0 win over Charlton just over a year ago.

The full list of Eddie’s Dale games as a referee is:

10 August 2002 Rochdale v Leyton Orient Won 1-0

11 February 2003 Darlington v Rochdale Won 1-0

15 April 2003 Rochdale v Kidderminster Lost 0-1

27 September 2003 Lincoln v Rochdale Drew 1-1

28 September 2004 Rochdale v Scarborough Won 4-1 (LDV)

13 November 2004 Rochdale v Oxford Won 2-1 (FAC)

18 December 2004 Rochdale v Bristol R Drew 0-0

27 August 2005 Rochdale v Macclesfield Won 3-1

17 April 2006 Rochdale v Peterborough Won 1-0

17 February 2007 Notts Co v Rochdale Won 2-1

9 October 2007 Rochdale v Bury Lost 1-3 (JPT)

29 March 2011 Rochdale v Charlton Won 2-0

30 July 2011 Crewe v Rochdale Lost 1-2 (Friendly)

20 August 2011 Oldham v Rochdale Lost 0-2

So far this season Eddie has refereed 34 games, showing 73 yellow cards and six red, including two to Southend players in their defeat at Bradford on Good Friday.

He was privileged to take charge of the first match at Brighton’s new AMEX Stadium against Doncaster in August, while more recently he was the referee for the remarkable Championship game which saw Nottingham Forest win 7-3 at Leeds.

Eddie’s last Sheffield United game was The Blades’ 4-0 home win over Bury back in September.

Photo: Action Images

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