Dale will meet a new referee on Saturday when Tim Robinson takes charge of their game at Southend.

Mr Robinson is in his sixth season on the league list, but this will remarkably be the first time he has taken charge of any Rochdale match.

Tim’s Football League career actually started at Southend in August 2012 when he refereed their home game versus Accrington.

He went on to officiate mainly in the bottom two divisions over the next three seasons, but in 2015/16 Mr Robinson was appointed to a high number of Championship fixtures, as well as Millwall v Bradford in the League One play-offs.

It was, therefore, no surprise when he joined the Select Group 2 list of referees ahead of last term. Tim refereed 30 games in the Championship in 2016/17, in addition to some high-profile fixtures in League One and League Two.

This has continued into this season, with Mr Robinson being the man in the middle at Sheffield United v Barnsley a couple of weeks ago and Brentford v Wolves last Saturday.

In total this term, he has refereed seven games, showing 19 yellow cards and five reds, although two of the reds were in the same incident in that Yorkshire derby at Bramall Lane.

Photo: Action Images

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