Hill not expecting too many home comforts

ROCHDALE return to the Crown Oil Arena this afternoon after a run of three successive League One games on the road.

Dale have picked up just one point on their recent travels, a run of form which has seen them slip into the relegation zone.

And for that reason, manager Keith Hill suggested it may not be entirely a case of going back to home comforts.

“Home? Yes. Comfortable? Probably not!” he said

“When you’re in the position we are in the league, even your home supporters don’t make it comfortable.

“But they should be encouraged by the way we are trying to do things and the players have got to be brave.

“I said to the players ‘if it doesn’t kill you –and I’m still alive, the heart is still beating – then it makes you stronger.

“I am a survivor, I know how to survive and fight and I expect my players to represent me. They did that at Charlton and that is why they were so deflated, because we should have got something from the game.

“I don’t really believe in luck. I know where we are in the league without looking at it because of the results we’ve had, but it doesn’t make me any less enthusiastic and ambitious for this football club. We know where we should finish, but we’ve superseded that every season we’ve been in League One by finishing in the top ten.

“At this moment in time we’re in the bottom three and it could get tougher, but we’ve got enough games to turn it around and that’s what our endeavours are going to do, because we deserved more here.

“We didn’t really deserve more out of the game on Saturday (at Oldham) but I thought we deserved more on this occasion.”