John Busby is the man in the middle as Dale make their first-ever trip to Portman Road to take on Ipswich Town on Saturday.

The Oxford referee is in his fifth season on the National List and this will be the fourth time we have seen him at a Dale game.

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

John’s next two Dale matches were both at Spotland.

Two years ago this weekend he refereed the 3-1 home loss to Portsmouth, while early last season Mr Busby was in charge of Dale’s 2-1 home reverse to Sunderland.

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.

He has already had three games this term, in which he has shown five yellow cards. The most recent of those appointments was Charlton v Doncaster last Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

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