Striking the right balance

Oldham manager Paul Dickov

SOME managers claim there is little special about clashes like these.

Three points are at stake, as per usual — no need for any over-excited hooplah.

While those bosses embrace the cautious approach, repeating the ‘just another game’ line like a mantra, Paul Dickov isn’t kidding anybody.

The first Oldham-Rochdale duel in the league for 36 years means plenty, even for a man who has experienced the intensity of the ‘big ‘Manchester derby on three occasions.

The head-to-head at Spotland tonight (7.45pm kick-off) may be on a smaller scale than that.

But the atmosphere, like the 10,249-capacity ground, is sure to be charged.

There is little chance of Dickov staying calmly seated, stroking his chin in the dug-out on such an occasion.

And he wants his players to be similarly inspired and passionate, though at the same time keeping instructions in mind.

“I want them to get carried away — but in the right way,” said Dickov, who is clearly relishing the task in front of him.

“Every derby game I have played in, and this may seem a bit contradictory, the cool heads win the game.

“You have that fire in your belly, that will to win. It is different to other games and there is a lot of pride at stake.

“Nine times out of 10, the team with that fire in combination with the cool head wins the game.”

After gaining promotion from npower League two last season for the first time since the moon landing, Rochdale manager Keith Hill has enjoyed a positive start to his campaign.

The highlights so far from a Dale viewpoint have been the 2-0 win at Southampton and the 3-0 home victory against Huddersfield Town — two sides tipped for automatic promotion this season.

The good form has slipped away a little of late and Hill has watched his team lose four of its last five fixtures, the only break in that sequence being a 3-2 home win over Dagenham.

Dickov is confident of a good result, but is not going to make the mistake of taking the task lightly.

“Keith has done a fantastic job there,” he added. “He has brought them up and they play good football in a similar way to ourselves, at a high tempo.

“They want to win the ball back high up the pitch and get it down and play.

“When we play against teams who do that, it suits us.”

Athletic, in eighth, are only two points adrift of a promotion place in a tight League One division ahead of tonight’s full fixture programme.

The 4-2 win over Plymouth on Saturday made it just one loss in the last six for Dickov’s men, a run of games which has included relegated sides Argyle and Sheffield Wednesday plus well-fancied duo Colchester and Southampton.

With confidence relatively high and goals arriving from all corners of the squad, Dickov feels that an extended run of successive wins shouldn’t be out of the question.

“It is such a tight division,” he said. “The teams which pick up two or three wins in a row will shoot right up the table.

“We have had a couple of mini-runs this season.

“The test for the boys now, and I have said this to them, is can we go six, seven or eight games?

“I believe they are capable of doing it, I really am.

“Eradicate silly mistakes and there is no reason why we can’t.”