Fleetwood defender Ash Eastham free to face Rochdale after red card overturned

Fleetwood Town defender Ash Eastham is free to face his former club Rochdale on Saturday after winning an appeal against his red card last weekend.

Eastham, 26, was sent off for deliberate handball in the 43rd minute of Town’s 3-2 home defeat by Scunthorpe

Referee Mark Heywood ruled that Eastham had deliberately handled Ivan Toney’s header and awarded a spot-kick before showing a straight red.

Replays showed that Toney’s header was off-target, with Eastham unable to move his arm out of the way given his close proximity to the Iron forward.

Town appealed the decision and now Eastham, who joined the club from Dale in the summer of 2016, is free to make his return to Spotland.

An FA spokesman said: “An Independent Regulatory Commission agreed he did not deny an obvious goalscoring opportunity and therefore the player will not serve any suspension.”

Eastham was able to play in Tuesday's 3-2 defeat at Yeovil because League bans do not apply in the Checkatrade Trophy.

Cian Bolger was able to play alongside him in Somerset for the same reason, despite being in the middle of a two-game suspension.

Bolger missed the Scunthorpe clash after picking up his 10th booking in the 2-1 defeat at Gillingham and will complete his suspension this weekend.

That could pave the way for Manchester City loanee Charlie Oliver to make his second league appearance at Spotland.

Oliver, 20, had a baptism of fire after his deadline day signing, slotting into the hole left by Eastham against Scunthorpe.

It was a composed debut by Oliver, who is now in contention with Eastham and skipper Nathan Pond for starting places on Saturday as Rosler considers reverting to a back three after a five-match losing streak that has seen Town concede 12 goals.