Seb Stockbridge travels down from Newcastle to take charge of Dale’s FA Cup first round replay against Wrexham on Tuesday.

Mr Stockbridge is his seventh season on the league list and this is his ninth Dale game at this level and the first for almost a year.

We last saw him in the second round of the FA Cup last December when he was at the Crown Oil Arena for Dale’s 1-0 defeat to Portsmouth.

Before that Seb had refereed Dale four times in 2017, starting with the first match of that year at Walsall, which ended in a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Ian Henderson and Joe Thompson.

Two months later he was at the Crown Oil Arena for the thrilling 3-3 draw with Sheffield United and after another month he returned for Dale’s 3-0 midweek defeat of Port Vale, although as a late replacement for Ben Toner.

Towards the end of 2017, Mr Stockbridge was again at the Crown Oil Arena when Dale entertained Blackburn in the Checkatrade Trophy, a game which ended 1-1 before Keith Hill’s men won on penalties.

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

Fans will remember Peter Cavanagh being sent-off early in that game, before Dale slumped to a 1-0 defeat courtesy of Olly Lancashire’s own goal.

Early in 2015/16, 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.

He was also the referee for our friendly at Bury in August 2014 which ended in a 3-3 draw.

Mr Stockbridge’s life on the National List has been fairly uneventful and he has largely refereed in League One and League Two.

His most recent match this season was Mansfield v Colchester at the start of November and in total this term, he has refereed 15 games, showing 49 yellow cards and four red.

Photo: Action Images

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