Stanton out of Robins game

Photo: Jon Coluccio

Nathan Stanton will miss tonight's game following his sending off at the weekend.

Nathan Stanton will miss Rochdale's game at home to Cheltenham Town tonight (Tuesday 18 August, 7.45pm kick off) through suspension.

The defender has been handed a one game ban after he was sent off for a professional foul in Dale's memorable 1-0 win over Aldershot on Saturday.

Dale survived the game with ten men for more than 70 minutes and then struck a winner deep into injury time. Tom Kennedy scored from the penalty spot following a dubious penalty award for handball.

Keith Hill has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the Robins' visit in Coca-Cola League Two and his starting team is likely to remain the same as Saturday barring a defensive shake-up. Marcus Holness deputised well in place of Stanton and he is likely to get the nod to play alongside Craig Dawson. Other options open to Hill include bringing Matt Flynn, who impressed on his debut at right back, inside to play centre half, leaving the right back berth open for the return of Scott Wiseman.

Hill said that the performance against Aldershot, which gave his side their first win of the campaign, was the best over the course of ninety minutes in the two and a half years he has been at the club, and he will be looking for a repeat not just tonight, but over the course of the season.

He said: "We need to take a third great performance, a fourth, a five, a sixth...right through to 46 games, that's why we're here. We want to be successful and in order to be successful we have to perform week in week out and pick up results. Results are key but for me its also about picking up results with the types of performance that we had on Saturday."

Dale have been drawn at home to Bradford City in the first round of the Johnstone's Paints Trophy. The game takes place on Tuesday 1 September.