RUFC - Moore to Play Long Ball against Daggers?

Rotherham United Manager, Ronnie Moore is expecting a physical battle against a Dagenham and Redbridge side who are currently fourth in the league.

'Dagenham are a quality side,' Moore told MillersPlayer, 'and John Still has done a good job there. When you look at the non-league players he`s got and Benson is always going to be a threat as well as Hurst up front. They`re good in midfield and the wide men are good - they`re a strong, physical, good side but I don`t think it will be a problem for us to match that.

'We`ll have to play at high tempo and get the crowd behind us. The pitch isn`t brilliant at Don Valley so I would imagine it won`t be a game for tippy-tappy football but will be a physical encounter and a battle. There are teams that you play where you have to go long ball and maybe this could be one of them on Saturday.

'We`ve tried to change the way we`ve played with passing and playing out from the back but you can`t play out from the back at Don Valley now with the way the pitch is. They are going to try and improve it but how the hell they`ll do that I`ll never know. It`s hard for Jim our grounds man, he`s got to work solid on it but it`s hard. We get it ready then someone else plays on it and then someone will train on it on the Friday which is the hard part of trying to keep the pitch right.

'We`ve got some exciting games coming up and the players won`t want geeing up for them. As a player you look forward to these games. The game that worries me more than anything is the Darlington game because everyone thinks we are going to just have to turn up and we will win it but we know football isn`t like that. I mean, we know what it`s like being Boxing Day there could be a player having a brandy or a mince pie or an extra beer so we have to hope that they are professional and do the right thing and have the right attitude for it.'

Asked if he thought the next two games being at home would be a help, Moore said, 'Are they at home? It`s not really a home is it? It never feels like a home game but we`re happy that we haven`t lost at home although we`ve drawn too many but it`s nice to be unbeaten and we have to try and turn those draws into wins. We try to keep it a fortress but we need to have that little break and when we get the opportunity to stick the knife in we have to get ruthless.

'We`ve set a target and come the end of the Bournemouth game, we`d like to see ourselves six points clear.'

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