Hill looking forward to derby challenge

Photo: Jon Coluccio

Rochdale manager Keith Hill

Rochdale manager Keith Hill is looking forward to this Saturday's derby game against Bury at Spotland and says he knows exactly what games against local rivals mean to the fans.

Dale lost at home to Bury twice inside of a week last season, going down 2-1 in the league and then 3-1 in an embarrassing Johnstone's Paint Trophy defeat, a result that provoked an angry reaction from certain sections of the home support.

"After last season's two games against Bury I know exactly what this game means to the fans but to be honest I've always known what it means," said Hill. "But there has to be some thought to it and sometimes supporters do not use their brains. In the end those two games against Bury were nothing more than that because we reached the play-offs by the end of the season and they struggled a bit."

Dale will be looking to record their first home win over the Shakers since way back in 1993, with the visitors having recorded victories in four of their last five visits to Spotland. This forms part of the remarkable statistic that, in the 49 games between Rochdale and Bury, the home side has been victorious on just 14 occasions.

But Keith Hill is not a man who reflects too long on the past and he is expecting his strikers to come to the fore and end the Shakers 100% start to the season. He said: "Of course they have started really well and they have a good manager in place. It is going to be a challenge but it is one that we accept readily.

Dale have hit the net in just one of their opening four games, including the penalty defeat to Oldham in the Carling Cup, but Hill believes the goals will come sooner rather than later. "We are creating genuine opportunities so it would be more of a concern if we were not doing that but the strikers and attacking players get paid for what they do in the live action on Saturday afternoons, not in training. In training we score bagfulls of goals.

"But I think this time last season we scraped a point at Hereford to get on the board. We've won one, drawn one and lost one and there's still a lot of the season left to go."