Hill wants more from forwards

Photo: Jon Coluccio

Craig Dawson will look to continue the form that saw him named player of the month at Darlington tomorrow night.

Rochdale manager Keith Hill is looking for more goals from his attacking players ahead of tomorrow night's trip to managerless Darlington (Tuesday 29 September, kick off 7.45pm).

Hill's men hit four in Saturday's win over Hereford, their largest tally in a game so far this season, but the Dale boss still wants his side to be more clinical.

"I want more," said Hill. "I think we should have scored more goals in the second half on Saturday and I think Chris Dagnall should have 10, 12 goals to his name now. He works tirelessly up front with Chris O'Grady and he's now got six in nine but what I want is I want more from him.

"I want more from all the players and I want more from the coaching staff and the football club because we are ambitious."

Hill is set to name the same starting line-up against a Darlington side that lost manager Colin Todd after Saturday's draw at Grimsby and sit bottom of the League Two table without a win all season.

Young defender Craig Dawson will continue at the heart of the Dale defence after hitting his first football league goal on Saturday. Dawson has caught the eye of the Dale fans since making his football league debut in the first game of the season, winning the Supporters Trust's player of the month award for August, and the 19-year old has been an ever present in the Dale backline.

Hill didn't want to put too much pressure on the youngster's shoulders during the early stages of his career. Hill said: "He's doing well Craig Dawson. Are we going to build him up to shoot him down and his form could start dipping? I don't expect his form to dip so early in the season but he will have dips in his performances and he'll question himself, we'll question him and the supporters will question him. We're building him up again and he is an excellent prospect but he's not at the end yet, he's nowhere near it.

"We're in good form, we're scoring goals, we look comfortable in all units. We are a good footballing side but I won't be putting any pressure on the players. We're a young side but we're sat quite comfortable in the league at this moment in time and we look a good spectacle in respect to the way we play football. I'm pleased with our prospects for the future games we've got coming up."