Ben Toner will referee Dale’s fifth cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday in the space of 20 years when we make the trip to Hillsborough on Tuesday.

The Darwen official has been a regular at our matches since he joined the National List in 2015, the most recent of which was the 2-0 defeat at Tranmere in January.

A science teacher at Fleetwood High School, Ben’s first Dale game was at Shrewsbury in March 2016, where we lost 2-0 after a disappointing display.

In 2018/19 we saw Mr Toner three times, including the final home match of the campaign when Dale defeated Southend 1-0 to confirm their League One status.

He was also the man in the middle for the 2-1 Carabao Cup loss at Middlesbrough early in that season, as well as the 1-0 win at Huddersfield in the same competition two years ago.

Ben’s most dramatic Dale appointment came in September 2017 when two injury time goals helped us to a thrilling 2-1 home win over Doncaster.

All told, he has refereed 12 previous Dale games:

Mar 2016 v Shrewsbury (a), L 0-2
Dec 2016 v Scunthorpe (h), W 3-2
Sep 2017 v Doncaster (h), W 2-1
Jan 2018 v Lincoln (h, CT), L 0-1
Feb 2018 v Wigan (a), L 0-1
Aug 2018 v Middlesbrough (a, CC), L 1-2
Oct 2018 v Bradford (a), W 2-0
Apr 2019 v Southend (h), W 1-0
Aug 2019 v Shrewsbury (a), D 0-0
Sep 2020 v Huddersfield (a, CC), W 1-0
Aug 2021 v Liverpool U21 (h, PJT), W 4-0
Jan 2022 v Tranmere (a), L 0-2

This will be Ben’s fifth match this season and he has so far shown 10 yellow cards. His most recent appointment was Burton v Ipswich in League One last Tuesday.

Photo: Action Images

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