Hill calls on fans to be the twelfth man

Photo: Jon Coluccio

Keith Hill

Rochdale take on Dagenham and Redbridge tomorrow (Saturday 1 February) at 3pm and the atmosphere at the stadium should be tense as Dagenham and Redbridge secured a 3-1 win over Rochdale earlier in the season.

Commenting on that previous game, Rochdale Manager Keith Hill said: “To have 28 opportunities on the opposition goal and to dominate possession shows you how good they are on the counter attack. They’ve got match winning players in the side, but the game was like the British weather – it was a freak of nature.”

A victory over 11th place Dagenham could push Dale to second to the table and Keith Hill hopes that the pitch at Spotland helps the team to a success.

He said: “The pitch is as important as any player recruitment and it’s important that we maintain that standing because it suits us. I’m really pleased with the hard work that’s going into it and so are the players.”

Regarding Tuesday’s postponed game at Northampton, Hill said: “It was a great call and something we had legislated for anyway. Their game there at the weekend against Chesterfield shouldn’t have continued – two of Chesterfield’s goals were as a result of the pitch. If there’s standing water on the pitch then it’s not an even playing surface for both sides. It’s also dangerous and I think the game should have been abandoned.

“[Having no fixture midweek] will freshen the players up and it gives them a bit of thinking time, they've not had much of that over the course of the last four to six weeks. We’re looking forward to the remaining 19 games of the season, and while we don’t know what’s going to happen, we’ve got to try and plan for success.

“Everybody’s eager for success, everybody wants success and everybody expects success in a modern day society. We’ll be working extremely hard and honestly to get that success, and we need the supporters to support the players in every situation throughout that 90 minutes plus, in every game from now until the end of the season.”

Rochdale also announced the signing of 21 year old George Porter, a former Burnley player today (Friday 31 January). Porter began his career at Cray Wanderers after impressing during his time at the non league sides. He then attracted interest from a number of league clubs before joining Leyton Orient in 2010.

Leaving Leyton Orient in 2012 for Burnley, Porter has enjoyed loan spells at Colchester United and AFC Wimbledon.

Speaking of his new player, Keith said: “George is a good player, he’s a pedigree and he’s technically very good. I think it’s a great signing from our perspective because he’s already got games under his belt this season with AFC Wimbledon.

“He’ll also bring pace - a ridiculous amount of pace. We’ve already got pace but I wanted to add a little bit more to the squad. It’s going to enhance us in the last 19 games of the season.”