John Busby will make the long journey from Oxford to referee our first midweek league game of the season against Sunderland on Tuesday.

This will be only Mr Busby’s second appearance at the Crown Oil Arena after he took charge of last September’s 3-1 home loss to Portsmouth.

The official is in his fourth season on the referees’ list and this will be only the third time he has refereed a Rochdale game.

His other Dale appointment was back in February 2018 when a goal from Calvin Andrew earned Keith Hill’s men a 1-0 win at Northampton.

John’s first EFL game in August 2016 was Mansfield v Cheltenham 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.

His first two league appointments of this season were Doncaster v Gillingham and Plymouth v Colchester, while last Tuesday Mr Busby refereed Charlton v Forest Green in the Carabao Cup.

Photo: Action Images

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