Dale’s National League play-off final against Boreham Wood at Wembley on Sunday will be refereed by ANDREW HUMPHRIES.

This is the third time we have seen the Northamptonshire-based official in the last 12 months and it’s fair to say the previous two games were full of incident.

Just short of a year ago, he was the man in the middle for our play-off eliminator at home to Southend United, which Dale lost 4-3 having earlier held a 3-1 lead.

When The Shrimpers returned to Spotland in December, Andrew was again appointed as referee, but he only refereed for 77 minutes, at which point he was forced to abandon the game (with Dale 2-1 ahead) due to continued torrential rain making the pitch unplayable.

Mr Humphries has mainly officiated in League One and League Two this season, with only four of his 37 completed appointments being in the National League.

His most recent outing was at Port Vale v Lincoln in League One last Saturday and in total this term, Andrew’s 37 matches have yielded 130 yellow cards and seven reds.

A school teacher in Daventry, he shouldn’t be found wanting for fitness, having once completed 11 marathons in 11 days raising money for MS research

Photo: Action Images via Reuters