Hill hails attacking options

Photo: Jon Coluccio

Joe Thompson celebrates last night's goal, his fourth in two games, in front of the Dale fans.

Rochdale manager Keith Hill was glad of his attacking options as Dale overcame Chester last night to secure a third consecutive win.

Lee McEvilly played a lead role in the victory, coming off the bench to help set up Dale's first and then get on the scoresheet himself to secure the three points.

And Hill knows that he will need all of his attacking options between now and the end of the season.

"It's superb to have so many options in attacking areas and I think we need them," he said. "The different permutations will keep the opposition guessing. Sometimes you can put too much stock into one partnership and you can make yourself too familiar with the opposition, especially at the standard we are playing at."

Dale's wins at Aldershot on Saturday and last night were helped by the fact that they could change things on the pitch when the game perhaps was not going according to plan. Hill's men made a quiet start at Aldershot but the manager swapped Will Buckley to the wing and put Joe Thompson up front and suddenly the game was transformed, with Thompson famously collecting the match ball.

It was the same scenario last night, as Dale enjoyed plenty of possession but struggled to carve out many chances against a resolute Chester backline. That paved the way for McEvilly's second half introduction and another three points were soon on the board.

"The rotation is very good and sometimes it's good being able to do it without making substitutes as well," said Hill."When we needed to have that physical presence Lee McEvilly went on and he's got his goal and he set one up.

"Chester played very well in the first half and made a game of it. It was horses for courses at times and we had to go a little more route one because they got into shape early. We saw that at half time and we changed it and we put Lee McEvilly on and it worked for us. He was a good presence for us up front. There's more than one way to skin a cat and it was an excellent performance, very professional."

With many other games in the division called off and Brentford losing at Morecambe, Dale are nicely placed in fourth in League Two and just a point behind the Bees. Dale face Morecambe themselves at home this Saturday and the backline will do well to keep another clean sheet against former Dale loan striker Rene Howe, who was again on the scoresheet last night.