Ben Toner will make the short trip over from Darwen to referee Dale’s home game versus Doncaster on Tuesday.

The official is in his third season on the referees’ list and this will be his second appointment at the Crown Oil Arena.

The most recent of those was last December when Ben was in charge of Dale’s 3-2 win over Scunthorpe.

He was due to referee the game against Port Vale in March, but the match was postponed and Seb Stockbridge officiated on the new date!

Mr Toner’s only other Dale game was in March 2016 when he was in the middle for our 2-0 loss at Shrewsbury.

A 32-year-old science teacher in Fleetwood, this will be only Ben’s second game of this season, following on from Newport v Wycombe on Saturday.

However, last term he refereed 36 matches, showing 121 yellow cards and five red.

His most high-profile appointment was the FA Cup third round replay between Lincoln and Ipswich, while Mr Toner returned to Sincil Bank a few weeks later for Lincoln v York in the FA Trophy semi-final.

Photo: Action Images

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