Dressing room will bounce says Hill

THE Rochdale dressing room has enough ‘good’ characters to bounce back from a poor first half of the 2017/18 season.

Hill suggested the 2-1 loss at home against Blackpool on a wet and windy New Year’s Day was rock bottom for him and his players – and expects them to bounce back.

“It’s difficult being a manager at this moment in time but I’ve got to find solutions, the players have got to find them themselves while being guided by me within the framework that I’m proposing to them, and that’s how hopefully we’ll get success,” he said.

“You don’t hope for better, you build for better, so you’ve got to find a starting point.

“Like I said to the players, we’re looking for good people to bounce.

“When you reach rock bottom, everybody wants to kick you, grab a piece of you, be negative towards you, but you’ve got to bounce. I’ve always lived by those rules as a person, as a football player and as a manager.

“Good people bounce and I’m expecting a good changing room to bounce.

“We can stand here and make excuses and come up with reasons, but the fact of the matter is that we’re in bad form, we’re in a terrible position in the league, so the only way is up.”

Hill said his team selection for Monday’s game was based on inside knowledge – some of his players are not 100 per cent fit.

“We’ve got players – and I don’t like making excuses – who are not one hundred per cent playing, which is always a problem, so we’re not getting good performances from some.

“But there is a necessity and the players are trying to do their best for me on behalf of the club by representing us.”