Andy Woolmer will referee at Spotland for the first time in almost ten years when he takes charge of our game versus Bradford on Saturday.

The Northampton-based official last appeared in these parts on a cold Tuesday night in January 2009 for a comfortable 3-0 home defeat of Notts County, who had a young goalkeeper on loan from Scunthorpe by the name of Josh Lillis!

Mr Woolmer’s most recent Dale appointment was just short of a year ago when he refereed our excellent 1-0 FA Cup win at Doncaster.

Prior to that, we saw him three times in 2015, with the 0-0 draw at bury succeeding him being in the middle for the 1-0 Good Friday loss at Preston and a 2-2 draw at Coventry.

Mr Woolmer, a postman by trade, also refereed Dale twice in quick succession in their 2013/14 promotion campaign.

He was the man with the whistle at Exeter in February of that season, where Jamie Allen’s first half goal gave Dale a 1-0 win.

Seven weeks previous, Andy had refereed the 3-0 New Year’s Day defeat at Scunthorpe in which he sent-off Michael Rose, but allowed Scott Hogan to remain on the field despite what appeared to be a headbutt after an unsightly melee.

That Hogan then went on to score against Leeds three days later showed what an important call in Dale’s favour that was!

Mr Woolmer has been a regular performer at Dale fixtures since he joined the league list in 2004 and Saturday will be the 18th time we have seen him in the middle.

One of his most memorable Dale games was in September 2010 when he refereed the famous 2-0 win at Southampton, which is undoubtedly the best-ever league result achieved by any Rochdale side

FULL DALE RECORD

Sep 04 Grimsby (a), W 1-0

Mar 05 Wycombe (h), D 1-1

Sep 05 Oxford U (h), L 0-1

Oct 06 Darlington (a), W 5-0

Feb 08 Lincoln (a), L 1-2

Mar 08 Rotherham (h), W 4-1

Jan 09 Notts Co (h), W 3-0

Dec 09 Lincoln C (a), W 3-1

Sep 10 Southampton (a), W2-0

Nov 11 MK Dons (a), L 1-3

Nov 12 Port Vale (a), D 2-2

Jan 14 Scunthorpe (a), L 0-3

Feb 14 Exeter (a), W 1-0

Jan 15 Coventry (a), D 2-2

Apr 15 Preston (a), L 0-1

Oct 15 Bury (a), D 0-0

Jan 18 Doncaster (a, FAC), W 1-0

Andy is currently one of the new Select Group 2 referees, which means he mainly takes charge of games in the Championship.

Unfortunately, he has suffered with injury problems since his elevation to that level, although he was scheduled to referee Ipswich v Sheffield United last Saturday and has been appointed to Sheffield Wednesday v Birmingham on New Year’s Day.

Before that match at Portman Road, Mr Woolmer’s 11 games this season had produced 35 yellow cards and three red.

Photo: Action Images

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