Manager Keith Hill has been looking ahead to Sunday’s Sky Bet League Two encounter against Bristol Rovers in his latest interview.
The visitors currently sit 19th in the division, but Hill is expecting another tough test.
He told the club’s official YouTube channel: “The lads have to respect the opposition, they’ve got to work hard, they’ve got to show endeavour, commitment and an understanding of how to win games.
“I think everybody including myself would have expected Bristol Rovers to be challenging and who’s to say that they won’t be challenging come the end of the season – I certainly won’t write them off. The league is tight and if you get a sequence of results like Cheltenham have, then who knows. I think they were second bottom after 10 games and I think they’re in the top ten now, so it just shows you how things can
change.”
From a Dale perspective, Hill is pleased with what the team has achieved so far heading into the fixture at Spotland.
“A year ago the club had only achieved four home victories and so far [this season] we've achieved eight, which is the same amount as we achieved in total last season.
“As far as I’m concerned we’re right on point, we’ve won 50 percent of our games in the league and we’ve had an excellent result on Boxing Day.”