Dale’s game at Carlisle United on Saturday will be refereed by OLLIE YATES.

With the match officials for the EFL and National League now all aligned into one full list, this is Ollie’s first Dale game in the fifth tier, but his eighth in total.

We first saw the Staffordshire-based referee at Spotland in April 2018 for a 1-1 draw with Bradford City, where an injury-time fumble by Josh Lillis allowed Charlie Wyke to stab home the equaliser for The Bantams.

Eight months later, he was back at Spotland for a goalless draw with Luton, while in December 2019, Mr Yates oversaw the 2-1 FA Cup replay win at Boston that earned Dale a home tie versus Newcastle in round three.

He then returned to Spotland in December 2020 for our encounter with Gillingham, where a disastrous first half performance saw Dale trail 3-0 at the interval, before eventually losing 4-1.

We saw Ollie twice in the 2021/22 campaign, firstly at a 1-0 home loss to Crawley, followed later in the season by the 1-0 home win over Northampton thanks to a rare goal from Tahvon Campbell.

Yates’ last Dale appointment was the 1-1 pre-season friendly draw at Walsall in July 2023.

So far this season, Ollie has refereed eight matches in the EFL and Carabao Cup, in which he has showed 39 yellow cards and one red. His most recent game was Reading v Leyton Orient last Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

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