Manager Keith Hill reflects on the week as Dale get set to face Oxford United at the Crown Oil Arena…
“We were unfortunate last week at Southend. I saw Phil Brown’s comments with respect to it being a really exciting game, and it was. It was a game we were trying to win and we play exciting football, there’s no question about that.
“We fell the wrong side of the result last week but the way the players responded and their appetite to win the game was superb.”
Saturday’s League One fixture against the U’s is Rochdale’s first home game of 2017.
Hill is looking forward to it despite having injuries to contend with for the match, with Steven Davies and (knee) and Joe Thompson (back) joining Joe Bunney and Brian Barry Murphy on the injury list.
“I’m looking forward to all of our games, whether they are home or away, and I’m looking forward to this weekend’s game.
“We’ve had a good week's preparation but we are now stumbling into a few injuries.
“We’ve got to make sure that we get the right balance to the next 20 games, because it has been a tough week with respect to one or two injuries that have been thrown at us. Joe Bunney got injured a few weeks ago and we’ve had two other players who have picked up an injury during the course of the last two weeks.
“It’s good timing having Vinnie [Peter Vincenti] back on the training pitch. He completed 90 minutes on Tuesday in a behind closed doors game, which was brilliant.”
Watch the full interview on Dale PlayerHD.