Dale make a third successive visit to Christie Park on Friday night to take on Sammy McIlroy's Morecambe. Having picked up 1-1 draws from the previous two visits up the M6, Keith Hill will be hoping his side can take all three points from their visit on Friday.

Morecambe have made a poor start to their 2009/10 season, drawing three and losing two of their first five League games. They are out of both early season cup competitions too after losing 5-1 at Preston in the Carling Cup and losing out 4-2 on penalties to Carlisle in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Before that defeat to Carlisle, The Shrimps announced the signing of one-time Dale target Paul Mullin from Accrington.

After a couple of defeats to Cheltenham and Rotherham, Dale used all of their bouncebackability to overcome near neighbours Bury 3-0 in a fantastic performance last Saturday. Keith Hill's side followed that up with another impressive performance at home to Bradford City in the JPT, but unfortunately the result didn't go Dale's way and the JPT dream was ended at the first hurdle.

BLAST FROM THE PAST - Dale's Will Buckley celebrates after giving his side the lead at home to Morecambe last season. Morecambe eventually equalised in the last minute to make the game 1-1.

Kenny Arthur is likely to start in goal for Dale with the defensive four in front of him taking a familiar look. Marcus Holness and Craig Dawson are set to continue their impressive partnership in central defence, with Tom Kennedy at left-back and Matt Flynn at right-back, although Scott Wiseman will be pushing to regain his spot at full-back after coming on as a substitute in the defeat to Bradford. Gary Jones missed the JPT loss with a virus but is expected to return alongside Jason Kennedy in the middle. Keith Hill has options on the flanks with Adam Rundle, Will Buckley and Joe Thompson all pushing for a start, whilst Chris O'Grady may return to the starting line-up after being cup tied against Bradford alongside Chris Dagnall up top.

Dale have only faced Morecambe four times in their history, with all of the meetings coming in the past two seasons. Both of Dale's visits to Christie Park have ended in 1-1 draws, whilst we drew 1-1 at home to The Shrimps last season when a late equaliser from Michael Twiss denied Dale all three points. We did record a famous win over Morecambe in our Centenary season, winning 1-0 thanks to a Rene Howe goal to secure our place in the play-offs that season. Our full record against Morecambe, if you needed any clarification, is as follows:

The referee for Friday's game will be Neil Swarbrick from Lancashire. He has taken charge of six games this season, brandishing 16 yellow cards and one red, to Brighton goalkeeper Michel Kuipers. He has refereed us just twice in recent years. He was in charge for our 1-1 draw at home to Morecambe last season, our 2-1 win at Accrington where he sent off former Shrimp David Perkins, the memorable 5-0 thrashing of MK Dons and the 1-0 loss at home to Stockport in 2006. He was also the fourth official for our game against Bury last weekend. His assistants will be Matthew Diccio and Paul Marsden, whilst the fourth official will be Robert Jones.

Dale Player will bring you a full interview with Keith Hill on Friday morning as he looks ahead to the game against The Shrimps.

There will be an official Dale club coach going to Morecambe on Friday. For details on the coach and how to book, please click here.

For a full travel guide to Christie Park on Friday, please click here.

For important ticket information for Friday's game, please click here.

If you cannot make the game on Friday there will of course be full live match commentary via Dale Player from 19:30. Click here for full details on Dale Player.