Dale will meet a new referee on Saturday when Peter Bankes takes charge of their home game against Scunthorpe.

The Liverpool official is in his second season on the referees’ list and although he has officiated Scunthorpe twice before, this is his first Rochdale match.

Mr Bankes was promoted from the Conference list at the end of the 2013/14 season and refereed Newport v Wycombe as his first league appointment.

He made good progress last term and was in the middle for some high profile games later in the season, including Nottingham Forest v Cardiff in the Championship and the League Two play-off semi-final first leg, Plymouth v Wycombe.

His appointments have been even better this year, as Peter started the campaign with three games in the Championship, a Capital One Cup second round tie (Walsall v Brighton) and the recently televised Burton v Coventry fixture.

He was due in the middle at Bolton v Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday, but all these games will all move down the pecking order next Tuesday as Peter has been appointed as the referee for Leicester v West Ham in the Capital One Cup.

Before Tuesday’s trip to the Macron Stadium, Mr Banks had refereed six games this season, showing 24 yellow cards.

Photo: Action Images

D_Dale added 16:18 - Sep 18 Six more yellow cards on Tuesday. Last season, he produced 7 reds in 27 matches, so he looks overdue showing a red this season. A good day to rest Joe Rafferty?
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