Seb Stockbridge travels down from Newcastle to take charge of Dale’s home game against League One leaders Sheffield United on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Stockbridge is his fourth season on the league list and this is his fifth Dale game at this level and his second in the last two months.

That’s because we last saw Seb for the first fixture of 2017 at Walsall, in which Dale won 2-0 with goals from Ian Henderson and Joe Thompson.

In August 2013, Mr Stockbridge’s second Football League appointment was for Dale’s match at Burton.

Fans will remember Peter Cavanagh being sent-off early in that game, before Dale slumped to their customary Pirelli Stadium defeat, losing 1-0 to Olly Lancashire’s own goal.

Early last season, Seb was in charge at the Crown Oil Arena for the visit of Shrewsbury, a game in which Dale raced into a 3-0 lead, before being pegged-back to 3-2 before half-time. Thankfully, there was no further scoring.

Mr Stockbridge also took charge of our friendly at Bury in August 2014 which ended in a 3-3 draw.

His Football League life has been fairly uneventful since joining the list and he has largely refereed in League One and League Two.

However, Seb was handed a live TV appointment before Christmas when he refereed the FA Cup tie between Macclesfield and Oxford.

He also hit the headlines a couple of weeks ago by sending Mansfield manager, Steve Evans, to the stand during their game at Grimsby.

Photo: Action Images

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