Nick Kinseley will referee Dale’s visit to Portsmouth on Friday night.

This will be the second time we have seen the Essex official this season as he was also the man in the middle for our 3-0 defeat at Oxford in October.

Mr Kinseley also refereed Dale’s visit to Oxford in April 2018 when he awarded the home side two penalties that allowed them to come from a goal down to win the game 2-1.

That loss seemed to have condemned Dale to relegation, but as we all know, the scene was perfectly set-up for Charlton Athletic, Oldham Athletic and Joe Thompson the following week.

Mr Kinseley is in his fifth season on the National List and Friday will be his third Dale appointment, although he has been allocated one other Dale game.

That came in April 2016 when Nick was scheduled to referee our visit to Port Vale, but a late change saw him replaced by Andy Madley, who oversaw Dale’s 4-1 defeat.

Since his promotion to the National List in 2015, Kinseley has refereed in League One and League Two, as well as at numerous matches in all three cup competitions.

All told this term, Nick has refereed 19 matches in which he has produced 58 yellow cards and six red. His most recent appointment was Cambridge v Bradford a fortnight ago.

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