Dale’s rearranged FA Trophy fourth round tie at Stockton Town on Wednesday will be refereed by PAUL COOPER.

That’s not the penalty-saving former Ipswich goalkeeper, but a Police Officer and Dog Instructor with the Durham Police Force.

Mr Cooper joined the National League list for last season, but only refereed seven games up to November, when presumably some form of injury hampered his progress.

He was a busy man in those games, with the first four yielding 27 yellow cards and six red cards!

The cards died down in his later appointments and Paul only showed two in each of his first two matches this season, one of which was Dale’s 3-1 home defeat of Maidenhead in September.

However, he brandished seven yellow cards and one red card in his last National League outing at Boston v Halifax in October.

Mr Cooper also refereed Dale’s National League Cup tie at home to Blackburn Rovers U21 two months ago.

Photo: Action Images

Rochdale Polls