Snow saves Stanton

Photo: Jon Coluccio

Nathan Stanton came back into the Dale defence to partner Rory McArdle

Rochdale defender Nathan Stanton is available to play in tonight's clash with Chester because the snow has delayed the appeal hearing against his red card at Aldershot on Saturday.

The centre half was shown red for a trip on Marvin Morgan late in the game but the club decided to appeal the card because they felt that Dale had defenders covering that would have denied Morgan a goal scoring opportunity.

Stanton's appeal was due to be heard by the FA at 3pm this afternoon but it has been cancelled because of the bad weather in South London.

Dale had sent their evidence for the appeal within the alloted two day deadline but the snow meant that the delivery was not made in time. The FA have put the hearing back to Thursday 4 February, so if the appeal fails the defender will miss Saturday's home game with Morecambe rather than tonight's clash at Chester.