Successful year behind the scenes
ROCHDALE’S push for the play-offs may have fallen just short, but manager Keith Hill will be able to reflect on another successful season for the club during at the end of the campaign.
But for an unfortunate run of injuries to key men, chances are Dale would have landed a coveted top six finish.
However, missing out on that does not mean the club has not enjoyed success.
“It’s been a topsy turvy season, we have had some unbelievable feelings,” Hill said.
“We didn’t start the season too well but we grew and we always knew we could do.
“There has been some great development gone on at the club, we are superceding expectation because of the financial restraints that we’ve got.
“It’s been a great season behind the curtains with respect to infrastructure, future planning on the pitch, the stadium, players recruitment and I’m talking about the Academy, the youth team.
“We are already training 14 and 15-year-olds with the first team. So I am really excited about the future. Sometimes people don’t see that but it does fill me with great excitement because we can’t do it the money way because we can’t find ourselves in debt at this club.”
Derby victory at Gigg Lane last Thursday lifted some of the disappointment from the previous game at Shrewsbury, where Dale lost 1-0 and missed the opportunity to close the gap on the play-off contenders.
“I demanded a performance,” said Hill after Callum Camps’ free kick sunk the Shakers.
“I can’t wait, I don’t wait. I give my trust and I give players opportunities, but I have got to look after the remainder of this season and next season.
“It was a hard week, a harsh week, but when I didn’t get a committed performance against Shrewsbury, I had to make changes because these games are really important to me.
“They are important to the fans, to the board of directors and to 99.9 per cent of the squad and I made some decisions that will hopefully affect my future in a positive manner.
“I think we could have controlled the game better at times because we were looking for the second goal and I think if you’re looking for something you won’t find it.
“I felt if we’d played in the second half the way we’d played towards the end of the first half, we would have gone on to score more goals. But we were in a rush to deliver the final pass and if we’d have waited a little bit longer in our decision making we would have won the game more comfortably.
“It was a great strike from Callum, he’s very good at doing that. We’ve seen it before and I encouraged him to get on the ball and take the free kick in the first place and it was a great time to score.
“I thought we had just edged the first half and were controlling midfield and after the first ten minutes I was very comfortable. I was relatively comfortable in the second half, I just thought our search for a second goal could have really hurt us because we had players out of position.
“The opposition were chasing, so you start half cheating in position and sometimes that can hurt you and give them a way back in, but it didn’t.”