The managers of two promotion rivals, Stuart McCall, of Bradford City, and Hans Backe, at Notts County, have described them as the best team in the division, yet Rochdale are struggling to convince sceptical locals.
Chris Dunphy, the chairman, issued a pre-match plea for people to get behind Keith Hill’s team, but another disappointing attendance of 3,003 suggested top spot in Coca-Cola League Two is not enough to convince some when it comes to the club’s promotion credentials.
It is one of the drawbacks of languishing in the Football League’s bottom tier since 1974. Three-and-a-half decades of apathy is proving difficult to shake off, although Chris Dagnall, their top scorer with 12 goals, insists the attitude within the dressing room provides a stark contrast.
“The belief among the squad is stronger than ever,” he said. “We’re going into games believing we are going to win and that’s the right way to go about it.
“If we can get into League One, it would be a massive bonus — we all want to play at a higher level. What we’re looking to do now is create a gap between ourselves and the team in fourth place. That way, even if we do slip up, there won’t be too much damage done.”
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Goals from Will Atkinson, Scott Wiseman and Jason Taylor beat Macclesfield Town, who finished the match with ten men after Shaun Brisley’s dismissal for a foul on Chris O’Grady.
Keith Alexander was unhappy about the red card and even angrier about Jason Kennedy’s foul on Hamza Bencherif. The Algerian, who hopes to earn a place in his country’s squad for the World Cup finals, was carried off on a stretcher after Jason Kennedy’s challenge broke his ankle.
“Hamza has gone to hospital after a horrendous tackle,” the Macclesfield manager said. “It was disgraceful. The lad is 21 years old and got a chance of featuring for Algeria in the World Cup squad, but then you get a tackle like that. You can say that’s football, but it’s not acceptable to me.”
Bencherif, who spent the night in hospital, will have an operation and is likely to be out for two months.
Rochdale (4-4-2): T Heaton — S Wiseman, C Dawson, N Stanton, T Kennedy — W Atkinson, J Kennedy, J Taylor, K Higginbotham — C Dagnall (sub: D Glover, 75min), C O’Grady. Substitutes not used: D Taberner, R McArdle, M Flynn, C Toner, S Hogan, G Jones. Booked: Stanton, J Kennedy.
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Macclesfield Town (4-3-3): J Brain — I Reid, S Brisley, P Morgan, C Tremarco — J Rooney, N Brown, H Bencherif (sub: P Bolland, 28) — E Sinclair (sub: M Tipton, 72), R Sappleton (sub: B Wright, 15), C Daniel. Substitutes not used: J Veiga, R Draper, K Wilson, M Lowe. Booked: Tremarco. Sent off: Brisley.
Referee: S Cook. Attendance: 3,003.