Dale will hope history doesn’t repeat itself when they meet referee Graham Scott at Rotherham on Saturday.
It’s been five years since we reached the second round of the FA Cup and on that occasion we put on a poor performance to lose 2-0 at Forest Green.
The referee that cold afternoon at The New Lawn was Oxford-based Graham Scott and in a cruel twist of coincidence, he’s the man in the middle at New York Stadium this weekend.
Back in 2008/09, Mr Scott was in his first season on the league list, but he is now an established Football League official.
Last season he refereed the second leg of the League Two play-off semi-final between Burton and Bradford, in addition to a couple of late season crucial Championship fixtures — Hull v Nottingham Forest and Leeds v Brighton.
He has refereed four Championship games this term, most recently Ipswich v Burnley in October, but his most recent appointment was Wolves v Tranmere in League One last Tuesday.
Altogether this season, Graham has refereed 13 matches, showing 43 yellow cards and seven red.