Tyne & Wear official Geoff Eltringham was originally appointed to the FA Cup replay against Morecambe, but he was replaced on Friday by Cheshire’s Mark Heywood, who might cause confusion among fans who like to keep track of this sort of thing.
That’s because Mark Heywood, with an ‘E’, shouldn’t be confused with West Yorkshire’s Mark Haywood, with an ‘A’, who is also on the Football League list!
We last saw Mr Heywood in October 2011 for the 2-1 home defeat of Wycombe, a game in which Ashley Grimes scored twice.
However, Mark was in charge of Dale’s friendly at Radcliffe in July and three years earlier he was in the middle for the 2-0 home loss to Manchester United in another pre-season game.
So far this season Mr Heywood has refereed just eight games, showing 20 yellow cards and two red, both brandished at Watford players in their recent loss at Cardiff.