Dale’s FA Trophy third round tie at Leamington on Saturday will be refereed by NIALL SMITH.

The Staffordshire official received promotion to the National List midway through last season and made his National League debut when he refereed Dale’s 1-1 draw at Tamworth in February.

After three more fifth tier appointments, we saw Niall again on Easter Monday when he took charge of Dale’s 0-0 home draw with AFC Fylde.

This season, Mr Smith has refereed five matches in the National League, the most recent being Carlisle United v Tamworth a fortnight ago, as well as several fixtures in Premier League 2. Those five National League games have seen Niall show 22 yellow cards

Photo: Action Images via Reuters