Surrey referee Gavin Ward will take charge of Dale’s game at MK Dons on Saturday.

This is his tenth Dale appointment since joining the National List in 2007, with the most recent coming at Swindon last October.

Dale lost that game 3-0, but Ian Henderson missed a penalty when they were 2-0 down, while Joe Bunney was later sent-off.

That red card was subsequently rescinded on appeal to the football people!

Other notable Dale games refereed by Mr Ward include the 2-1 win at Bradford in January 2015 in which Calvin Andrew scored one of his famous last-minute winners.

Bradford boss at the time Phil Parkinson, a southerner managing in Yorkshire, moaned about the referee, saying: “They have dragged him all the way up from Surrey for this match.”

Parkinson’s main gripe was the early dismissal of his goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, for bringing down Matty Done in an incident that led to a penalty from which Dale eventually took the lead.

Fans may remember Ian Henderson chipped his spot-kick against the bar, but Peter Vincenti slammed in the rebound.

Before that game, we had previously seen Gavin at Cheltenham in October 2013 where two late Henderson goals helped Dale come from behind to record a crucial 2-1 win on their way to promotion.

Ward was also in charge at Wycombe in January 2008 when he awarded Dale an injury time penalty converted by Tom Kennedy to clinch a 1-0 win.

The full list of Gavin’s Dale appointments is:

Jan 2008 v Wycombe (a), W 1-0

Mar 2009 v Barnet (a), L 1-2

May 2011 v Bournemouth (a), W 2-1

Oct 2011 v Bournemouth (a), D 1-1

Aug 2012 v Torquay (a), L 2-4

Oct 2013 v Cheltenham (a), W 2-1

Jan 2015 v Bradford (a), W 2-1

Apr 2015 v Doncaster (a), D 1-1

Oct 2016 v Swindon (a), L 0-3

Before midweek, when he was down to officiate Newport v Cheltenham, Mr Ward had refereed six matches this term, showing 19 yellow cards.

Photo: Action Images

Rochdale Polls