Dale’s return to the Crown Oil Arena against Truro City on Saturday will be refereed by PAUL MARSDEN.

This will be the tenth 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 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 campaign kicked-off, it emerged that Mr Marsden had dropped back down to the National League, although the merging of the lists means he now also referees in the EFL again.

We most recently saw Paul in November when he refereed our 3-1 win at Boston United, while his most recent outing was in August when he was in the middle for Dale’s 4-0 thrashing of Gateshead.

DALE GAMES
Apr 2015 Dale v MK Dons (replacing the injured referee) L 2-3
Feb 2019 Dale v Coventry City L 0-1
Jan 2020 Dale v Gillingham D 2-2
Jul 2023 Chorley v Dale (Friendly) L 0-1
Feb 2024 Dale v Solihull Moors L 1-2
Nov 2024 Gateshead v Dale W 1-0
Feb 2025 Dale v Oldham Athletic L 0-1
Aug 2025 Dale v Gateshead W 4-0
Nov 2025 Boston United v Dale W 3-1

The Headteacher at Saint Bede’s Catholic High School in Lytham St Annes will be overseeing his sixth National League match of the season on Saturday, the most recent being Gateshead v Eastleigh last month.

His last appointment was Stockport v Lincoln in League One on Boxing Day.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters