Nick Kinseley will referee Dale’s visit to Oxford for the second time in three seasons on Saturday.

The Essex official was the man in the middle at Grenoble Road in April 2018, when he awarded Oxford two penalties that allowed them to come from a goal down to defeat Dale 2-1.

That loss seemed to have condemned Dale to relegation, but as we all know, the scene was perfectly set-up for Charlton Athletic, Oldham Athletic and Joe Thompson the following week.

Mr Kinseley is in his fifth season on the National List and this will be only his second Dale appointment, although he has been allocated one other Dale game.

That came in April 2016 when Nick was scheduled to referee our visit to Port Vale, but a late change saw him replaced by Andy Madley, who oversaw Dale’s 4-1 defeat.

Since his promotion to the National List in 2015, Kinseley has refereed in League One and League Two, as well as at numerous matches in all three cup competitions.

His most recent game was Grimsby v Leyton Orient last Saturday, while his last League One fixture was AFC Wimbledon v Bristol Rovers a month ago.

All told this term, Nick has refereed eight matches in which he has produced 27 yellow cards and three red.

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