Experienced EFL referee Eddie Ilderton is the man in the middle when Dale entertain Southend on Tuesday.

Mr Ilderton is in 16th season as a league referee and this will be his 24th appointment at a Rochdale match.

That long list started at Spotland on the opening day of the 2002/03 campaign when Eddie refereed his first Football League game as Dale recorded a 1-0 win over Leyton Orient.

Just four months earlier he was one of the assistant referees when we lost at home to Rushden & Diamonds in the play-offs.

We last saw Mr Ilderton in September when he refereed the 3-0 home defeat of Gillingham, in which the visitors had Tom Eaves sent-off for elbowing Joe Rafferty.

The full list of Eddie’s Dale matches as a referee is:

Aug 02 Rochdale v Leyton Orient W 1-0

Feb 03 Darlington v Rochdale W 1-0

Apr 03 Rochdale v Kidderminster L 0-1

Sep 03 Lincoln v Rochdale D 1-1

Sep 04 Rochdale v Scarborough (LDV) W 4-1

Nov 04 Rochdale v Oxford (FAC) W 2-1

Dec 04 Rochdale v Bristol R D 0-0

Aug 05 Rochdale v Macclesfield W 3-1

Apr 06 Rochdale v Peterborough W 1-0

Feb 07 Notts Co v Rochdale W 2-1

Oct 07 Rochdale v Bury (JPT) L 1-3

Mar 11 Rochdale v Charlton W 2-0

Jul 11 Crewe v Rochdale (F) L 1-2

Aug 11 Oldham v Rochdale L 0-2

Apr 12 Rochdale v Sheffield U L 2-5

Nov 13 Morecambe v Rochdale W 2-1

Mar 14 Rochdale v Oxford W 3-0

Oct 14 Rochdale v Gillingham D 1-1

Mar 14 Rochdale v Yeovil W 2-1

Aug 15 Rochdale v Coventry (COC) D 1-1 (won on pens)

Feb 16 Rochdale v Crewe D 2-2

Dec 16 Northampton v Rochdale W 3-2

Sep 17 Rochdale v Gillingham W 3-0

This will be Mr Ilderton’s 24th match this season and before Saturday, when he was due at Bristol Rovers v Northampton, he had shown 64 yellow cards and six red.

Photo: Action Images

Rochdale Polls