CHARLES BREAKSPEAR will referee Dale for the second time in 38 days when we make another long trip to Southend United on Tuesday.

The Surrey-based official was in the middle at Spotland for our 1-0 win over Carlisle United last month, but will be making a much shorter journey around the M25 for this appointment.

Now in his 13th season on the National List, Tuesday will be Charles’ 11th Dale match.

The first was at Colchester in December 2014, where Keith Hill’s men were impressive 4-1 winners.

Two years later, Charles refereed our 1-1 draw at Maidstone in the FA Cup and 12 months after that, he was in the middle for a 2-1 midweek defeat at Charlton.

In September 2018, the Surrey whistler was the referee for Dale’s trip to Coventry, where Calvin Andrew scored the only goal of the game.

Calvin then put through his own goal at Charlton on the final day of that season, where Charles was again in the middle as Dale went down to a 4-0 defeat.

Mr Breakspear was next the referee at MK Dons in January 2020, where his last-minute penalty award handed the home side a 2-1 win over Brian Barry-Murphy’s Rochdale team.

We then saw him at Colchester in September 2022, where a Devante Rodney penalty earned Dale a 1-0 win, although we were indebted to an injury time penalty save from Richard O’Donnell to secure the points.

In September 2021, Charles oversaw a 1-0 home win over Tranmere, courtesy of a late Danny Cashman goal, while later in the campaign, he returned to Spotland for a dire 0-0 draw with Barrow.

All those matches have been free from controversy and a high card count, which goes against the reputation Charles has for being a strong disciplinarian on the field of play.

This hasn’t materialised to any great degree this term, as his 16 games before last week have seen 54 yellow cards, but only one red.

He was due at Stevenage v Leyton Orient last Tuesday and Lincoln v Stockport on Saturday.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters