Dale’s home game against Eastleigh on Saturday will be refereed by JAMES WESTGATE.

In his second season on the match officials’ list, this will be Mr Westgate’s third Dale appointment.

We first saw the Sunderland-based referee in October 2023 when he took charge of Dale’s 4-3 home defeat to Oldham.

His next Dale match was at Ebbsfleet in March last year where we conceded a last minute goal to lose 2-1.

This season has seen James referee 14 games across the National League and League Two, the most recent being Halifax v Hartlepool a couple of weeks ago.

Those games have yielded 58 yellow cards and five reds.

Photo: Action Images

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