Rochdale goalkeeper Josh Lillis says his team expect to knock Sheffield Wednesday out of the FA Cup at Spotland on Saturday, despite being 30 places below them in the football league.
Dale are looking to dump a Championship side out of the competition for the second consecutive cup tie after seeing off Leeds United in the third round.
Lillis is convinced his side can repeat the trick and says that despite being branded underdogs by outsiders there is a firm belief within the Dale squad that victory can be achieved.
“It’s a free hit for us,” Lillis told MM. “It’s another Championship team, we are not expected to beat them, but within ourselves we are expecting to beat them.
“We are quietly confident. We believe in ourselves in any game, especially at home.
“It’s going to be another game where we fill the stadium out again. It was a great atmosphere against Leeds and the lads came up trumps and performed so well.”
Dale have every reason to be confident as they have lost just one of their last eight matches, and their never-say die attitude was in evidence at Chesterfield on Tuesday.
Trailing 2-0 going into injury time Dale rallied to draw 2-2 courtesy of a penalty from Ian Henderson and a 93rd minute header from Peter Vincenti.
The last-gasp equaliser left Keith Hill in his own words ‘off the Richter scale of happiness’ and another cup triumph would improve his mood even further.
Sheffield Wednesday are also a team in form, unbeaten in their last seven matches in all competitions.
This included a 6-0 demolition of Leeds the week after Dale knocked them out of the cup.
But Rochdale defender Jack O’Connell, like his team-mate Lillis, is confident of another upset at Spotland.
“We know we can beat a Championship side at home with our fans, so I don’t see why we can’t repeat that (against Sheffield Wednesday),” O’Connell told MM.
Image courtesy of Rochdale AFC, with thanks.
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