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Hill calls for assertiveness

Richard Partington
27/ 8/2008

WE MUST be more assertive in the final third – that’s the message Keith Hill is drumming into his Rochdale squad following Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Bradford City.

Dale were the better team for much of the game but failed to take their opportunities while the hosts twice dealt sucker punches via Michael Boulding and Peter Thorne.

"Paul Conway, Dave Flitcroft and myself have watched the DVD of the game and we are creating a lot of opportunities in the right areas and a lot of what we are doing is right – but we are not being assertive enough in the final third," said Hill.

"Against Bradford we played all the football while they scored all the goals.

"It was a competitive game and we went there to win it and I feel if we’d taken one of our early chances we would have won – but that counts for nothing now. I don’t know where the expectancy comes from in terms of believing we would go there and beat Bradford – you can see why they are favourites, they have invested heavily and are really going for it this year.

"But we’re not disconsolate, we just need to fine tune a few things. In fairness, the performance probably warranted more."

Hill’s fine tuning programme is currently under way and the Spotland chief will hope to have Mark Jones available for selection in time for Saturday’s derby at home to Bury.

"Overall there wasn’t a lot wrong with the performance at Bradford," said Hill. "But are we a million miles away or are we close to what we want to achieve? These are the questions we want to answer, and we have 43 games in which to respond."

While Stuart McCall’s team managed to shut them out on Saturday, Hill suggests Dale’s goalscoring record speaks for itself and remains confident the goals will flow.

"We’ve played 73 games now, won 37, drawn 19 and lost 17. In that time we have scored 129 goals and conceded 78 – I don’t expect that kind of output to change."

Dale skipper Gary Jones is a strong contender for the Northwest Football Awards League Two Player of the Year. He comes up against Danny Adams (Morecambe), Paul Linwood (Chester City), Paul Mullin (Accrington), Paul Scott (Bury) and Danny Thomas (Macclesfield). The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony in November.