Ollie Yates will referee Dale for only the second time when he takes charge of Saturday’s home game versus Luton Town.
The Staffordshire official is in his third season on the referees’ list, but the only time we have seen him was in April when he refereed the disappointing 1-1 home draw with Bradford.
Mr Yates’ first two seasons at this level were blighted by injuries, although he now seems to be over those problems.
In 2016/17 he officiated at 12 matches up to the end of October, before injury ended his campaign.
He returned to action in March 2018 and refereed seven games up to the end of last season, including Dale v Bradford as already mentioned.
This season Ollie has been in the middle for 14 matches, 12 of them in League One and League Two and the other two in the Checkatrade Trophy. He has shown 44 yellow cards and one red and his most recent appointment was Newport v Morecambe last Saturday.