'Important we pick ourselves up' says Hill

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Keith Hill

Rochdale manager manager Keith Hill says it is "important we pick ourselves up", as Dale welcome Port Vale to the Crown Oil Arena, following Saturday’s draw with Northampton Town.

Rochdale were forced to settle for a point after Northampton equalised deep in injury time.

Hill said: “The lads are really disappointed. They’re floored, as you can imagine.

“I thought the lads had done enough and there’s no point in bullet pointing mistakes.

"I congratulated them for the effort they put into the performance in their pursuit of trying to get the three points, and they were so close.”

Hill is looking for a strong performance against Port Vale.

He said: “It’s important that we pick ourselves up.

“We know that we’ve got our League One status and we should be really pleased about that. We’re always chasing the dream and we’ll continue to chase it with six games to go.

“I’m worried about the mental and physical fragility of the players now but I’m not willing to throw games away. I don’t want to experiment – I want to field the strongest team to play against the opposition, but I’m also mindful of not forcing injuries on players.

“With the way the lads are working, we should be able to get points here, there and everywhere. Our number one job in retaining our League One status is done. We’re now going into the next fixture with six games to go and you just never know what’s going to happen.

“I want the players to perform to the standards they’ve already shown this season and not let the supporters down. I don’t want a slow end to the season, where we’re losing games and there’s no performance. I want a little bit of excitement as well.”

Supporters can watch the game for just £1:

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/128/advertorials/109109/watch-dales-league-one-fixture-versus-port-vale-for-just-1