Experienced Football League referee Eddie Ilderton will be the man in the middle when Dale return to league action against Gillingham on Saturday.

Mr Ilderton is in 13th season as a league referee and Saturday will be his 12th appointment at Spotland.

In fact, Spotland was the venue for his first Football League game on the opening day of the 2002/03 campaign when Dale recorded a 1-0 win over Leyton Orient.

Just four months earlier Eddie was one of the assistant referees when we lost at home to Rushden & Diamonds in the play-offs.

He has been a frequent official at Dale games since then and we last saw him in March when Scott Hogan’s hat-trick earned the team a comfortable 3-0 home win over Oxford.

Eddie also refereed Dale’s 2-1 win at Morecambe last November.

The full list of Eddie’s Dale games as a referee is:

Aug 2002 Rochdale v Leyton Orient Won 1-0

Feb2003 Darlington v Rochdale Won 1-0

Apr 2003 Rochdale v Kidderminster Lost 0-1

Sep 2003 Lincoln v Rochdale Drew 1-1

Sep 2004 Rochdale v Scarborough Won 4-1 (LDV)

Nov 2004 Rochdale v Oxford Won 2-1 (FAC)

Dec 2004 Rochdale v Bristol R Drew 0-0

Aug 2005 Rochdale v Macclesfield Won 3-1

Apr 2006 Rochdale v Peterborough Won 1-0

Feb 2007 Notts Co v Rochdale Won 2-1

Oct 2007 Rochdale v Bury Lost 1-3 (JPT)

Mar 2011 Rochdale v Charlton Won 2-0

Jul 2011 Crewe v Rochdale Lost 1-2 (Friendly)

Aug 2011 Oldham v Rochdale Lost 0-2

Apr 2012 Rochdale v Sheffield U Lost 2-5

Nov 2013 Morecambe v Rochdale Won 2-1

Mar 2014 Rochdale v Oxford Won 3-0

Photo: Action Images

Rochdale Polls