In a rather bizarre appointment, Tom Nield will referee Dale against Accrington Stanley for the second time this season!

The Huddersfield-based official, who is in his third season on the referees’ list, was also in charge at Spotland in October when an Ian Henderson brace gave Dale a 2-1 win over John Coleman’s men.

That was Tom’s first appearance at a Rochdale game, although he was due to referee our home fixture against Bristol Rovers in October 2017, but was forced to withdraw a couple of days in advance.

Mr Nield took charge of 29 matches in that debut season, the vast majority in League One and League Two, with a few EFL Trophy ties thrown in along the way.

He was fairly active in the opening months of last term as well, only for injury problems to keep him out of action from December to April.

Mr Nield then returned to officiate three games at the back end of last season and has continued with 16 appointments in this campaign ahead of the Christmas and New Year schedule.

Those matches had yielded 44 yellow cards and two red and have seen him travel from the West Riding to various locations in the country, including Wycombe, Crawley, Colchester, Newport, Portsmouth and Southend.

Photo: Action Images

Rochdale Polls