Darren Bond is the man in the middle for Dale’s local derby at Oldham on Tuesday.
The Wigan whistler is in his third season on the league list and has made such good progress that he is a member of the Talent Group, a small number of officials who receive higher profile appointments and act as fourth officials in the Premier League.
Indeed, on Saturday, Darren was the fourth official for Tottenham v Leicester at White Hart Lane.
This season has seen Mr Bond referee regularly in the Championship, with three of his last four appointments coming at that level.
The latest of those was Watford’s 4-1 home win over Reading a week ago, following on from Derby v Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham v Brentford in recent weeks.
Dale last saw Darren in September 2012 when he took charge of our Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie at home to Fleetwood.
The game ended all-square at 2-2, but Dale won through on penalties.
Mr Bond’s last Oldham game was earlier this season when he was at Boundary Park for The Latics’ 3-1 home loss to Leyton Orient.
That was one of 32 matches Darren has refereed this term, in which he has shown 85 yellow cards and five red.