Manager Keith Hill has been looking ahead to Saturday’s derby match v Oldham Athletic, in his latest Dale Player interview…
“We’re well versed on each other and there’s a lot of similarities between ourselves and Oldham. The only difference is that Oldham have regularly been a League One or a Championship side and they’ve even been in the Premier League.
“We’re similar to each other geographically, however, and I suppose this season maybe budgetary as well, although I’m not too sure. We’re both fighting against the bigger fish in the league, but they have the experience of League One over us, that’s for sure.
“We go and play against Oldham on a regular basis so we know the staff really well, we know the players and they’ll know ours as well. It’s going to be a big game because we’re both in the same position in the league and we’re on the same points, which we’ve reached it in different ways.
He continued: “I think Lee [Johnson, Latics Manager] has done a brilliant job, and I’m looking forward to the game because it’s going to be another test for us.
“Lee is an intelligent manager and he was an intelligent football player. There’s also steeliness to him and a competitive edge. He’s probably very similar to myself in terms of being very demanding, not only of his players, but on the pitch as well.
“Saturday will be about the players who represent the managers and I know what they [Oldham players] are going to represent the manager with. Equally so Lee will know what our players are going to represent me with as well. It’ll be a really fierce contest.”
The full interview is available to view on Dale Player.