Dale will meet a new referee on Tuesday when Craig Hicks takes charge of their League One game at Oxford.

The Surrey official is in his second season on the referees’ list, but this will be the first time he has refereed a Rochdale game.

His first league appointment in August 2017 was Port Vale v Wycombe 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.

Last term he was appointed to 38 matches, in which he showed 124 yellow cards and six red. Two of those dismissals were in the late-season Plymouth v Peterborough fixture, which drew plenty of criticism from that nice Posh manager Mr Evans.

I’m sure most right-minded football fans will know where their opinions lie in that particular argument!

This season Craig has overseen 18 matches (59 yellow cards, 3 red), with one of them being Oxford’s Checkatrade Trophy tie versus Fulham in September.

Mr Hicks also oversaw Oxford’s goalless draw at Southend at the start of October, while his most recent game was Walsall v Sunderland on Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

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