Rochdale are on the road this weekend, as Keith Hill’s side make the trip to London to face Millwall at the Den.
Dale head into the match on the back of last weekend’s 2-1 win over Fleetwood Town and Hill says the three points were fully deserved.
“The points were more than just rewards,” said Hill.
“We were controlling the game against Fleetwood comfortably, and it was a mistake again that gave energy to the opposition, when we should have put them to bed. We put them to bed in the end and I thought the contribution from the substitutes was very, very good. They made a really good impact and it’s important they do that.
“If you put crosses into the box for Steve Davies then he’ll score goals. When you provide him with a ball, then he’s the best player on the training pitch with respect to scoring goals. We have stats from training every day and he’s good value for that.
“It’s important we have a squad that’s united in the way that we do things, and we’ve had that this season. It’s just that one or two of the mistakes we’ve made can cause a bit of anxiety amongst the squad and that’s what’s happened this season.”
This weekend’s game against Millwall is the start of an exciting week of fixtures for Dale, with Bolton Wanderers the visitors to the Crown Oil Arena on Tuesday night before Rochdale make the trip to face Charlton Athletic next Saturday.
“We’re looking forward to all three games. All three opponents are challengers for automatic promotion this season and all three might get promoted.
“Those are the challenges that we face at Rochdale Football Club but we are excited by those challenges. All three clubs have been knocking in and around the Premier League/ high Championship but we’re just looking forward to playing the opposition - we’re not playing their past history. We’re playing Millwall this Saturday and it’s going to be a difficult encounter, but one we’re looking forward to.”
Hill has revealed that Reuben Noble-Lazarus and Ollie Rathbone are back in training after recovering from injury, but says he has had injury problems to deal with again this week.
“We’re picking up some bad luck with respect to injuries. We’ve had one or two unforeseen injuries and one or two repeat injuries, so it’s unfortunate. We had a little bit of continuity with respect to playing the majority of the games with the same back four but more recently we’ve picked up a few injuries.”
Niall Canavan was suspended for last weekend’s game against Fleetwood Town but is expected to return to the matchday squad for Saturday’s game at the Den.
“To be honest, Niall would have missed last weekend’s game anyway as his wife gave birth to a little boy at the weekend, which is superb news for Niall and his family. He’s back in the fold for this weekend. Niall is a good player and that’s why we recruited him - he’s an important member of our squad.”
The full interview is on Dale PlayerHD.