Paul Howard referees Dale for the second time this season when we play our first-ever league game at Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday.

The London official was at the Crown Oil Arena in October for the dramatic 3-2 win over Sutton, which came a fortnight after his last visit to Forest Green for their 2-0 defeat to Swindon.

Mr Howard is in his second season on the National List and his first appointment at this level was Gillingham v Crawley in the EFL Trophy in September 2020.

He refereed his first league game four days later — Cambridge v Carlisle — and all told last season, officiated at 29 matches in League One, League Two and the cup competitions.

He is on track to beat that total of games this season as Tuesday will be his 23rd appointment of the campaign.

Those games have seen Paul show 74 yellow cards and five reds, with one of those reds coming in his last match, which was Cheltenham v Wigan in League One on 29th January.

Photo: Action Images

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