Referee: Keith Hill (Hertfordshire)
No, it’s not a mistake. Saturday’s referee at Peterborough really does share his name with our manager.
Followers of league football will probably 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 actually at Peterborough in his debut season, although there was no joy for Dale that day as we went down to a 2-0 defeat.
Mr Hill’s most recent Dale appointment was at Torquay in the first round of last season’s FA Cup, while you have to go back over four years for his last league game involving Dale, when he was the man in the middle for a 1-1 draw at MK Dons in the early stages of our first League One campaign.
The full list of Keith’s Rochdale matches is:
Oct 1998 v Peterborough (a), L 0-2
Mar 1999 v Leyton Orient (a), L 0-3
Jan 2000 v York (h), W 2-1
Sep 2002 v Kidderminster (a), D 0-0
Mar 2003 v Exeter (a), D 1-1
May 2003 v Macclesfield (a), L 2-3
Mar 2004 v Doncaster (h), D 1-1
Mar 2006 v Grimsby (h), D 2-2
Aug 2006 v Notts Co (h), L 0-1
Jan 2007 v Bristol R (h), L 0-1
Sep 2010 v MK Dons (a), D 1-1
Nov 2013 v Torquay (a, FAC), W 2-0
So far this season he has refereed 24 games, showing 81 yellow cards and four red. His most recent appointment was Wolves v Reading in the Championship last Saturday.