Dale’s seventh home fixture of the season on Saturday will be refereed by GREG ROLLASON.
A secondary school PE teacher, the Wolverhampton-based official is in his second full season as a National League referee having been promoted midway through the 2021/22 campaign.
His first game at this level was Barnet v Altrincham in January 2022 and he went on to take charge of a further eight matches in what remained of that season.
Last term, Greg refereed 20 National League fixtures including two involving Saturday’s opponents, Southend United.
He was in the middle at Roots Hall in January for a 3-1 home loss to Eastleigh and again at Oldham in April, where The Shrimpers were beaten 2-0.
On Tuesday night, Mr Rollason was due to take charge of Oxford City v Gateshead, which was his fifth appointment of the season.
The previous four had yielded 14 yellow cards and one red card.