Lee Swabey will referee Dale’s final game of the season when they make the long journey to Newport County AFC on Saturday.

This will be the Plymouth-based whistler’s seventh Dale appointment in his seven seasons on the National List.

We first saw Lee at Gillingham in January 2018, where Dale went down to a 2-1 defeat, and then the following November he was in the middle for our 3-2 loss at Shrewsbury.

That was the first of three Dale games for Mr Swabey in 2018/19, as he also refereed the 2-0 defeat at Luton in March 2019 and the 4-1 reverse at Portsmouth a month later.

However, Lee’s next Dale game eventually brought victory from one of our most famous performances of recent times.

That was at Southend early in the 2019/20 campaign, where the 3-0 win for Brian Barry-Murphy’s men featured the splendid Ian Henderson goal that was broadcast around the world to showcase the passing move that opened-up the Southend defence.

Mr Swabey’s last Dale game was at Portsmouth on Good Friday last season when he was a let replacement for Brett Huxtable for a game in which Dale were beaten 2-1.

Saturday will be Lee’s 27th game of this term, with the previous 26 producing 66 yellow cards and two reds. His most recent appointment was Exeter v Barrow last midweek.

Photo: Action Images

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