Wigan official Paul Tierney is the man in charge at Wembley on Wednesday when Dale face Tottenham in their FA Cup fifth round replay.

The former postman has been a permanent member of the Select Group of referees since the start of last season and at the turn of the year he was also awarded his FIFA badge.

He has officiated at ten Premier League games so far this term, including two at Manchester City, and has also refereed four FA Cup matches, with Shrewsbury v West Ham and Yeovil v Manchester United the most high-profile.

Mr Tierney was also in charge for the fifth-round tie between Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea, although Stuart Attwell has been appointed to that replay.

Dale last saw Paul in March 2016 when he was in the middle for the dramatic 3-2 win at Oldham, in which Ian Henderson received the first of two red cards in consecutive away games.

In November 2014 he was at Spotland for the 3-0 defeat of Preston and then returned for the 4-0 midweek thrashing of Crewe four months later.

Those are Mr Tierney’s only Dale appointments as a referee, but he was on the line for two of our most memorable matches of modern times.

In September 2007, Paul was one of the assistants for the 3-2 home win over MK Dons in which Dale scored twice in injury time to clinch the points.

Eight months later, he returned for the play-off semi-final second leg against Darlington when we all remember Dale winning on penalties to get to Wembley.

On Saturday, Tierney was the fourth official at Leicester v Stoke in the Premier League and in total this season he has refereed 22 games, showing 57 yellow cards and, as yet, no red.

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