Poulton-le-Fylde referee Scott Oldham will follow Dale down the M6 for our game at Walsall on Saturday.
The self-employed joiner, who is in his second season on the National List, has already refereed four Dale matches, although this will be the first one away from the Crown Oil Arena.
We first saw Scott in October 2017 when he took charge of Dale’s 1-0 home win over Bristol Rovers, although on that occasion he was a late replacement for the injured Tom Nield.
He returned to the Crown Oil Arena in March for the 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon and then three weeks later, he was an 11th hour replacement for Andy Haines in Dale’s thrilling, but ultimately frustrating 3-3 draw with Portsmouth.
More recently, he refereed the 3-2 home loss to Doncaster earlier this season.
The 36-year-old missed the first six weeks of this campaign through injury, but has been regularly in action since the end of September.
His 21 games have produced 65 yellow cards, with Scott’s most recent appointment being Bradford v Shrewsbury on Tuesday.