Rochdale travel to the Pirelli Stadium tomorrow in search of their first ever win against Burton Albion.
Of the sides’ six league meetings, Albion have come out on top five times with Dale stopping the rot with a 1-1 home draw in their last encounter.
Keith Hill’s side come into the game with the joint best defence in League One, conceding just three goals in six games and Hill was keen to emphasise the work carried out on the training ground.
He said: “The training tempo has been very good and I feel as though we’ve got a good enough squad to take us through until January.
“Then I’ll see where we are then with the players that we’ve got.”
Fullback Tom Kennedy was also upbeat about his side’s strong start to the season.
“As a collective team, we’re a little bit disappointed not to have won every game because we’ve got that sort of mentality where we’re going into every game confident.”
The Spotland side welcome midfielder Matty Lund back into the fray, while Rhys Bennett (hamstring) is Rochdale’s only absentee.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s side are without livewire Zeli Ismail (knee) who found the net the last time the two sides met.
Hill was keen to praise his opposite number ahead of the game, saying: “There’s a winning mentality and there’s a winning organisation there.
“The players believe in the manager and the manager believes in the players. He has recruited one or two players that have made them stronger – they’ve done exceptionally well and so has the manager.”
However, Hasselbaink played down his side’s strong start to the season.
“It’s not a bad start at all, two points per game. But I’m looking for 90, 96 minutes that is a very good professional performance.”
The League One newcomers’ three game winning run came to an abrupt end last Sunday against Coventry in front of the Sky cameras.
Dale suffered similar anguish last weekend as they conceded right at the death at Fleetwood in a 1-1 draw.
Image courtesy of Official RochdaleAFC via YouTube, with thanks.
