Antony Coggins will referee Dale’s opening game of the season at Harrogate Town on Saturday.

This will be only the fourth time the Oxfordshire official has taken charge of a Dale match, but the second in 2021.

We last saw him at Lincoln in March, where goals from Ollie Rathbone and Stephen Humphrys gave Dale a surprise 2-1 win.

Antony’s first Dale game was at Peterborough in April 2018, which was towards the end of his debut season on the National List.

On that afternoon, Ian Henderson’s early goal was enough to give Dale a 1-0 victory, although Hendo later blotted his copybook with an unnecessary red card after launching himself at a Posh player, earning a four-match suspension in the process!

Coggins’ next refereed Dale at Bolton in October 2019, where Brian Barry-Murphy’s side recorded a 3-1 win over Keith Hill’s Wanderers.

All told last season, Antony took charge of 27 games in League One, League Two and the cups, showing 79 yellow cards and five red.

Among those games was Harrogate’s first EFL fixture, which they won 4-0 at Southend.

Photo: Action Images

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