Malone In The Middle

BRENDAN Malone will be the referee for Saturday's Sky Bet League 2 clash with Rochdale.

Malone is in his fourth season as a Football League referee and has officiated Argyle on five occasions.

Sadly, the Pilgrims have not fared too well in games in which Malone has overseen having drawn twice, lost twice and won only once.

That single victory came on the first of two visits to Home Park last season, when the Pilgrims dispatched cash-strapped Portsmouth 3-0 in the first round of the Capital One Cup. Paris Cowan-Hall was the only man to go into the book that evening.

Brendan returned again in December for a 1-0 defeat to Wycombe, the last time that he met the Pilgrims. This time, he showed three yellow cards, including one to Warren Feeney.

In all, he took charge of 25 fixtures last season, showing 73 yellow cards (2.92/game), five red cards (0.2/game) whilst awarding nine penalties (0.36).

This season, he has refereed four matches and was last in action on Saturday for Stevenage's home Sky Bet League 1 defeat to Leyton Orient.

Already this season Malone has shown 17 yellows cards (4.25/game) and shown one red card (0.25/game). He is yet to award a penalty.