Dale will meet a new Football League referee on Saturday when Ross Joyce takes charge of their League One fixture at Crewe.

The Teesside official is in his first season on the referees’ list and has this will be his 19th game of the campaign, five of which have been in League One.

The most recent of those was a week last Tuesday when Ross refereed Blackpool’s 0-0 home draw with Sheffield United, while his other League One fixtures were Crewe v Chesterfield, Blackpool v Doncaster, Oldham v Doncaster and Wigan v Chesterfield.

At 29-years-old, Ross is the Football League’s youngest referee, although he did officiate at Conference level for seven seasons before making the step up.

This culminated in him taking charge of last season’s play-off final between Bristol Rovers and Grimsby in front of over 50,000 fans at Wembley.

Before his promotion Ross had been on the line for several Dale matches, although one — the 3-2 FA Cup loss to FC United — is a game we would rather forget!

All told this term, his 18 appointments have produced 60 yellow cards and three red.

Photo: Action Images

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