A week after playing Plymouth, Dale will be refereed by a Plymouth-based official when they travel to Luton on Saturday.

Lee Swabey will be the man in charge at Kenilworth Road for what is only his third Dale appointment.

Mr Swabey is in his fourth season on the referees’ list and our only previous encounters with him were at Gillingham in January 2018, where Dale went down to a 2-1 defeat, and earlier this term at Shrewsbury where we were beaten 3-2.

Lee’s first league appointment in August 2015 was Mansfield v Carlisle and since then he has refereed entirely in the two basement divisions, as well as at a number of games in all three knockout competitions.

Given his Devon home, most of Lee’s appointments have been in the south and south-west, although this season he has travelled as far north as Port Vale and Crewe.

All told this term, Mr Swabey has been in the middle for 21 games in which he has shown 70 yellow cards and two red.

His most recent match was Stevenage v Northampton last Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

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