Steve Martin is the man in the middle when Dale make the long midweek trip to Swindon on Tuesday.

The Staffordshire-based official is in his third season as a Football League referee, but this is the first time we have seen him in almost two years.

Steve refereed Dale’s FA Cup tie at Morecambe in November 2012, which ended in a 1-1 draw, while two months earlier he was in charge for fine 3-2 win at Rotherham on our first visit to the New York Stadium.

Mr Martin has made great strides since those early days and regularly referees in the Championship, as well as League One and League Two.

In total this term he has officiated at ten games, showing 29 yellow cards, but as yet, no red.

His last appointment was Preston v Colchester at the start of October, while Steve’s travels this season have taken him to Ipswich, Bolton, Norwich and Brentford in the Championship.

Photo: Action Images

D_Dale added 21:27 - Oct 20 Just to be picky, his last game was on Saturday, Fleetwood vs Doncaster (3 yellow cards making his total so far this season 32). What I do find interesting is that after reffing 74 matches in this and the previous two seasons, he's shown three red cards. Charles Breakspeare, in this season and last, in 35 matches has issued 15 reds. How do the powers-that-be, or anyone else, explain such variations?

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TVOS1907 added 15:24 - Oct 21 You're right about the Fleetwood game, but I usually write the Refwatch on the previous Monday, so it can miss out in-between fixtures. The second point - two different individuals with different tolerance and acceptance levels. I'd also say that Charles Breakspear has refereed most of his games in League 1 and League 2, where the skill levels and tackling levels aren't as god as the Championship, leading to more rash challenges and therefore, more red cards. He will be refereeing more games at these levels as his marks probably haven't been too good, so he could end up being demoted if his game management skills don't improve, which is possibly the case with all his red cards. It's not an exact science, though.

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D_Dale added 19:01 - Oct 21 Thanks for responding, TVOS. Even in the Premiership, where high skill levels might be expected to be the norm, some refs are more card-happy than others. I don't really have an explanation, though it sometimes seems akin to those schoolteachers who keep order without often using punishments, and those who don't or can't. Anyway, let's hope Mr Martin has a good game tonight and if he does reach for a red it won't be to show it to a Dale player.

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