Ben Toner will referee Dale for the second time in seven weeks when we travel to Bradford on Saturday.
The Darwen official was in charge of our Carabao Cup second round tie at Middlesbrough in late-August, having also refereed Dale’s Checkatrade Trophy meeting with Lincoln in January and the League One fixture at Wigan a month later.
Now in his fourth season on the referees’ list, this will be Mr Toner’s eighth Dale appointment.
As well as the games already mentioned, last December he was the fourth official at our 1-1 home draw with Walsall and just over 13 months ago, Ben was the man in the middle for the dramatic 2-1 win over Doncaster at the Crown Oil Arena.
In December 2016, he oversaw Dale’s 3-2 home defeat of Scunthorpe and in March 2016, Toner officiated our 2-0 loss at Shrewsbury.
A 33-year-old science teacher in Fleetwood, Ben has refereed nine games this term, showing 14 yellow cards.
His most recent match in the middle was Sunderland v Carlisle in the Checkatrade Trophy, although last Saturday he was fourth official at Barnsley v Luton.