Dale’s third away game of the league season at Walsall on Saturday will be refereed by JAMIE O’CONNOR.

This will be the Chesterfield official’s seventh Dale game since the start of the 2023/24 campaign, the most recent being our play-off win over Scunthorpe United at Spotland in May.

Earlier last season, he oversaw Dale’s 3-0 home defeat of Yeovil Town, while in April 2025, Jamie was in the middle for our 5-1 defeat of Hartlepool United in the final home fixture of 2024/25.

Other Dale games refereed by Mr O’Connor are a 2-0 loss at Solihull Moors at the start of October 2023 and the 3-2 reverse at Wealdstone six weeks later.

He also took charge of Dale’s FA Cup fourth qualifying round win at AFC Fylde in October 2024.

Jamie received a mid-season promotion to the National League in 2022/23 and went on to referee six fifth tier fixtures in the remainder of that campaign, as well as another 17 in 2023/24.

In 2024/25, he officiated 23 games across the National League, League One, League Two, while he oversaw 32 matches at the same levels this season, the majority coming in the EFL and its related competitions.

Saturday will be Jamie’s sixth appointment of this campaign, the most recent being AFC Fylde v Worthing last Saturday. His only League Two fixture was Tranmere v Shrewsbury on the season’s opening day.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters