The familiar figure of Darren Drysdale will take charge of Dale’s game at Peterborough United on Saturday.
This will be Mr Drysdale’s 21st match involving Dale, stretching right back to the 2004/05 season.
His first Rochdale appointment came in October of that campaign when he was in the middle for a 3-0 home defeat of Macclesfield.
We most recently saw Darren in August when he refereed the opening day 2-1 win at Burton, while last term he appeared twice at the Crown Oil Arena for the 1-1 draw with Plymouth and the 2-2 versus Northampton.
Before that, Darren was also at the Crown Oil Arena in December 2015 when he refereed our disappointing 1-0 home loss to Bury in the FA Cup.
That was the third time he had overseen a game versus The Shakers, as he was also in charge at Spotland in November 2006 (3-1 to Bury) and at Gigg Lane in March 2014 (0-0).
Another notable Dale match refereed by Mr Drysdale was at Chester in October 2005.
Dale won 3-2, but the game is remembered more for the early collision between Matt Gilks and Gregg Blundell which wouldn’t have looked out of place at a 1982 World Cup meeting between France and West Germany!
The full list of Darren’s Dale matches as a referee is:
Oct 04 Rochdale v Macclesfield W 3-0
Oct 05 Chester v Rochdale W 3-2
Nov 06 Rochdale v Bury L 1-3
Jan 07 Wycombe v Rochdale D 1-1
Feb 08 Rochdale v Peterborough L 0-2
Sep 08 Rotherham v Rochdale D 2-2
Feb 11 Tranmere v Rochdale D 1-1
Apr 11 Rochdale v Brentford L 0-1
Oct 11 Rochdale v Chesterfield D 1-1
Mar 13 York v Rochdale D 0-0
Dec 13 Rochdale v Bristol R W 2-0
Mar 14 Bury v Rochdale D 0-0
Apr 15 Rochdale v Leyton Orient W 1-0
Aug 15 Rochdale v MK Dons W 2-1 (Friendly)
Aug 15 Blackpool v Rochdale W 2-0
Dec 15 Rochdale v Bury L 0-1 (FA Cup)
Mar 17 MK Dons v Rochdale D 2-2
Oct 17 Rochdale v Northampton D 2-2
Apr 18 Rochdale v Plymouth D 1-1
Aug 18 Burton v Rochdale W 2-1
This will be Mr Drysdale’s 25th game of the season, with the previous 24 producing 90 yellow cards and three red.
His most recent match was Blackpool v Sunderland on New Year’s Day, while earlier in the campaign he refereed Peterborough’s 4-0 home loss to Barnsley.