Manager Keith Hill spoke to Dale Player following Saturday’s 4-0 win over Crawley Town at the Checktrade.com Stadium…
“There’s a lot of honesty in our team and the way that we play, and we’ve got one or two talented players as well, in fact we’ve got more than one or two,” said Hill.
“It has been a difficult start to the season. This is a difficult place to play and there was no expectation today, just a plan. The plan evolved and it transpired into us winning 4-0. It looks comfortable on paper but it was far from comfortable, like every game.
“We’re in League One now and it’s important that we carry on developing, learning and progressing.”
The victory rounded off an excellent week for Dale, with the side scoring seven goals in two games. Goals have already been spread this season with Calvin Andrew, Matty Done, Ian Henderson and Peter Vincenti amongst the goals, something which pleases Hill.
“At the minute everything seems rosy in the Rochdale garden. We’ve won today, we’ve won during the week and have been beaten once in the last five.
“We won at Crewe twice, we drew against Bristol City and we won today, so listen, we’re making progress and that’s the aim this season. The aim is to make progress and make big strides.
“I’ve never really focused on having one goal scorer in my team because the opposition can legislate for that. I like to have players who can score from all over the pitch and that’s what we had last season. We had it in my previous time at the club and I believe we’ve got that now so I’m happy.”
Saturday saw Dale keep a consecutive clean sheet, but Hill says there's no "coincidence whatsoever" that both clean sheets have come following the return of centre-half Jack O’Connell.
“There’s absolutely no coincidence whatsoever. You’ve got to look at the whole team as a defensive unit. Look at the energy that we play with, the way that we close down, and obviously Conrad has done exceptionally well – his distribution is as good as you’re going to get.
“But Jack is the one player that if I could have sold my house and bought him during the summer it’s something I would have done, but I can’t leave my wife and children homeless so that’s why we’ve taken him on loan,” smiled Hill.
The full interview is on Dale Player.