Rochdale manager Keith Hill believes his so-called fringe players are more than capable of covering the absences of star players Scott Hogan and Ian Henderson at Torquay United on Tuesday.
Henderson is suspended after being sent off in Friday night’s 0-0 stalemate with rivals Bury while 19-goal Hogan went off injured after just 17 minutes of the derby and looks set miss the trip to Plainmoor.
Despite the loss of two integral members of his team Hill has no desire to dip in to the loan market and says some of his squad players are ‘chomping at the bit’.
“The players who haven’t been in the squad or who have been on the bench are really well-prepared,” Hill told the Dale Player. “We had a game against Manchester City over at Platt Lane last week (and) it was tremendous.”
“There’s players 100% ready, George Porter’s ready, George Donnelly’s ready, Graham Cummins is ready, Bastien (Hery) is ready, Callum Camps is ready, Ashley Eastham’s ready, Joe Bunney’s ready, Rhys Bennett’s ready, they are all ready and I will play them.
“I don’t feel I need to upset the ambience of the dressing room by bringing new players in.”
Dale will go top of League Two if they beat bottom club Torquay, currently ten points from safety, and Hill believes the point secured at Gigg Lane after playing an entire half with ten-men will give his side added confidence.
“I think there was a lot of courage from our players having gone down to ten men,” said Hill.
“The players will take an incredible amount of belief and security in the knowledge that we can trust one another to perform like that against a very, very, very, very good side.
“I’ve got a really good squad and I don’t feel as though I should be upsetting the balance of that squad by bringing other players in, I trust the players immensely and I think you can see that by the way the players performed for me.”
Having already beaten Torquay twice this season, in the league and in the FA Cup, Hill will be hoping his side can complete the hat-trick under the floodlights in Devon.
Image courtesy of OfficialRochdaleAFC via YouTube, with thanks.
