Dale will meet a new EFL referee on Tuesday when Anthony Backhouse takes charge of their final Checkatrade Trophy group game at home to Blackburn Rovers.

The Cumbria official is in his first season on the referees’ list and this will be his 17th appointment in what has been a busy start to the campaign.

He began the season with Coventry v Notts County in League Two and has since refereed many games in the bottom two divisions, as well as Forest Green v MK Dons (EFL Cup), Rotherham v Manchester City U21 (Checkatrade Trophy) and Bradford v Chesterfield (FA Cup).

Anthony ended last season with the ultimate accolade in non-league football when he took charge of Forest Green v Tranmere in the play-off final at Wembley.

That was one of a large number of National League games for Mr Backhouse last season, as well as the Hartlepool v Stamford and Curzon Ashton v Westfields (replay) in the first round of the FA Cup.

All told this term, his matches have yielded 48 yellow cards and seven red.

Photo: Action Images

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