Hill out to silence doubters

LEAGUE One new boys Rochdale will not be short of motivation when they kick off the season at home to Hartlepool tomorrow.

As if the prospect of playing in a higher division for the first time in 36 years was not enough for the Spotland side, manager Keith Hill and his squad are chomping at the bit to prove the doubters wrong.

Written off as relegation fodder by a succession of pundits, Hill will use the experts’ gloomy outlook to rally his troops.

“It makes us angry when we hear ourselves being written off but it also brings out the fighting spirit and we’ll take that challenge to the players and they will rise to it,” he said.

“It’s a great motivating factor. There are a lot of football pundits and historically they do not get it wrong, but we’ll be going out to prove them wrong.

“There is a lot of excitement going into the new campaign in a new division. It’s relatively unknown to us, but we know football well enough so all we’re preparing for that is different is the opposition.”

Hartlepool come into that category and Dale will have to cope with their strike force of Adam Boyd and James Brown if they are to start their new adventure with a positive result.

With that in mind, Hill is hopeful star man Craig Dawson will be available for the curtain-raiser.

Burnley and Middlesbrough have both expressed an interest in the £1 million-rated central defender who twice had transfer requests turned down during the close season.

Dawson missed last weekend’s friendly against Bradford City but is expected to partner former Athletic youngster Marcus Holness in the heart of defence.