Manager Keith Hill has been reflecting on Tuesday night’s pre-season friendly win over Blackburn Rovers, as well as looking ahead to Saturday’s encounter against Huddersfield Town, in his latest interview.
“It’s pre-season and we’re trying to give the players game time,” Hill told Dale Player.
“For the lads who played on Saturday and then played 90 minutes on Tuesday, some of them hadn’t played back-to-back 90 minute games since January/ February. Olly Lancashire hadn’t and I know that Jim McNulty hadn’t for a long time.
“There was a little bit fatigue towards the end of the game when Blackburn put a fresh team on for the last 15 minutes, but I saw one or two things that I really liked, and there were one or two mistakes made.
“Pre-season friendlies are a great time to make mistakes, and there are constant reminders. We analyse the games after we’ve played in them so if there are things we feel that need flagging up with the players, we have either group or individual discussions.”
Huddersfield Town are the visitors to Spotland on Saturday and Hill is expecting a tough test against Chris Powell’s side.
“Huddersfield are a good side with Championship players.
“I think the higher up you go in the football spectrum, you get quicker decision making, better decision making, a quicker game and a quicker opposition to deal with, which is a great test for us.
“We want all of our players to scratch up to the sort of standard that is being produced in the Championship. I believe we’ve got Championship players and we have to try and play at Championship speed and standard in League One this season.”
The full interview is available to view on Dale Player.