Mark Brown will make his third appearance at Spotland since pre-season when he referees Tuesday’s FA Cup second replay against Aldershot Town.
The Hull-based official was in the middle for the home friendly against Middlesbrough in July when he awarded Boro one correct penalty and one dubious penalty, but at the same time did Dale a favour by allowing us to finish the game with 11 men!
Just over a fortnight later he returned to Spotland for the Capital One Cup first round tie against Preston, which the visitors won 2-0.
Last season Mr Brown took charge of two Dale victories, once at Spotland and once on the road.
In September he was the referee at Accrington for a game which Dale won 2-1 despite having George Donnelly sent-off shortly before half-time.
Four months later Mr Brown refereed the 3-0 home defeat of Plymouth which was memorable for two great goals by Ian Henderson and Michael Rose, while Argyle finished the game with ten men after Andres Gurrieri had been dismissed.
Currently in his fifth season as a league referee, this will be Mark’s tenth game involving Dale.
We first saw him in November 2010 at Spotland for the 3-3 draw with Swindon, while the following March he was in the middle for a 2-0 win at Hartlepool.
In April 2012 Mark refereed the final home game in Dale’s last League One spell, which ended in a 2-1 loss to MK Dons, while at the start of that campaign he was in charge of the goalless home draw with Carlisle.
Mr Brown was also at Spotland in October 2012 for the 0-0 draw with Fleetwood, although Dale were denied a potential victory when Ashley Grimes missed from the spot in the second half.
Before the weekend, when Mark was due to referee Norwich v Huddersfield, he had taken charge of 16 games this season, showing 31 yellow cards and three red.