The familiar figure of Darren Drysdale will take charge of Dale’s Leasing.com Trophy game at Bradford on Tuesday.
This will be Mr Drysdale’s 23rd match involving Dale — and his second in two months - stretching right back to the 2004/05 season.
His first Rochdale appointment came in October 2004 when he was in the middle for a 3-0 home defeat of Macclesfield.
We most recently saw Darren at Peterborough in September, where he presided over Dale’s 6-0 loss to Posh, while back in January he was again the referee at London Road when we went down to a 2-1 defeat.
Looking further back in time, Drysdale has been in charge of three Dale games against former EFL club bury.
He was at the Crown Oil Arena in December 2015 when The Shakers were 1-0 winners in the FA Cup, at Gigg Lane for the televised goalless draw in March 2014 and at Spotland in November 2006, when bury triumphed 3-1.
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
Jan 19 Peterborough v Rochdale L 1-2
Sep 19 Peterborough v Rochdale L 0-6
Before Saturday, when he refereed AFC Wimbledon v Doncaster in the FA Cup, Mr Drysdale’s had received 16 appointments this season, in which he had shown 61 yellow cards and one red. Ten of those yellow cards came in a feisty encounter between Scunthorpe and Oldham.