Sam Purkiss will referee Dale for the first time when we travel to Burton Albion on Tuesday night.
The London official is in his second season on the National List and has so far avoided being appointed to any of our games and, for that matter, any of Burton’s as well!
Promoted from the National League at the end of the 2018/19 campaign, Sam began his EFL life at Exeter v Macclesfield in August 2019.
He continued to referee throughout League One and League Two last term, as well as in the EFL Trophy and FA Cup, with his 28 matches seeing 83 yellow cards and only two reds.
This season Sam has overseen six games (11 yellow cards, one red), with his most recent appointment being Bristol Rovers v Northampton just over a fortnight ago.