Dale’s first-ever home game against Solihull Moors on Saturday will be refereed by PAUL MARSDEN.

This will be the fifth time Paul has refereed a Dale game – sort of!

We say ‘sort of’ as back in April 2015, he was a linesman at Spotland for the final home game of the season against MK Dons when an injury to the match referee saw Mr Marsden pressed into action in the second half.

That was one of a number of Dale appointments on the line for the Leyland-based official, but his promotion to the National List in 2018 saw him return to Spotland in a refereeing capacity in his own right in February 2019.

On that occasion Paul was the man in the middle for the home game against Coventry, which the visitors won 1-0 with a goal midway through the second half.

Eleven months later, he was back at Spotland for the 2-2 home draw with Gillingham and continued to officiate in League One and League Two until the season was curtailed by the pandemic.

When the 2020/21 season kicked-off, it emerged that Mr Marsden had dropped back down to the National League and he is now in his fourth campaign at this level.

He refereed Dale’s pre-season friendly at Chorley and has overseen nine National League fixtures this term, showing 44 yellow cards and one red card.

Photo: Action Images

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