Darlington vs Rochdale - Match Preview

Date published: 05 December 2008


Rochdale boss Keith Hill is set to welcome the return of his captain, Gary Jones, and top goalscorer, Chris Dagnall, to his squad to face Darlington tomorrow.

Dale's influential skipper has missed Dale's last two games after suffering knee ligament damage in the 2-0 win over Luton, while Dagnall has not featured since a substitute appearance in the same game.

Hill said: "We had Jon Shaw back for the Forest Green game and we now have Lee McEvilly to come in. Hopefully we've got Chris Dagnall and hopefully we've got Gary Jones as well.

"I will pick the team to face Darlington based on how the players have done in training this week and the two previous performances."

The manager will welcome back Nathan Stanton to his backline but will be without Rory McArdle, who is suspended for one game after collecting 5 yellow cards through the course of the season. Stanton, meanwhile, is just one booking away from a suspension himself

"We learned against Forest Green that we are not as good a team without Gary Jones and Nathan Stanton in there but it was important that we did not have both Rory McArdle and Nathan Stanton suspended for the game with Darlington, but despite that I did expect us to win the game last Saturday."

Darlington have called a pitch inspection for 9.30 tomorrow morning but are optimistic that the game will go ahead. Harsh winter conditions during the week have frozen parts of the pitch but the club have brought in heaters to warm the playing surface; a method that they have used successfuly in the past.

Rochdale Online will keep you fully up-to-date after the pitch inspection tomorrow.

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