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Hill laments unfair advantage

Image: Keith Hill: Aiming for survival

Rochdale boss Keith Hill took a swipe at the uneven financial playing field in League One as his side were beaten 1-0 at Fleetwood.

Josh Morris scored his third goal in as many games to keep Graham Alexander's men in the play-off chase, but Dale lost ground. Neither side created a clear-cut chance is an attritional opening 45 minutes, in which the visitors dominated but could not find a way past a resolute Fleetwood defence. Rochdale are still only six points off the play-off places, but Hill made it clear his first aim was to set his side up for another season in League One. He said: "Our aim is to stay in League One and challenge. "From my persective as a coach I see a lot of positives. "But it's about scoring goals and we've not done that." Hill added: "What we've been playing for all season is stability. "What I spend this season makes an impact on what I spend next season, not like some clubs in this division. "Look at Fleetwood, what they spend this season doesn't make any impact on what they spend the next. "I'm not afforded that luxury. "I like doing things my way and if we can make an impact at the top we will do. "We've still got two games in hand on a lot of teams and we're still looking upwards definitely." Hill believes his side should have taken more from the game, having seen so much of the ball before the break. He said:"We totally dominated possesssion. "I like to play a game my way and sometimes because of that we'll lose games. "The players just see it as a missed opportunity. "We've now just got to see it as a great opportunity on Tuesday." For Fleetwood boss Graham Alexander his side's first back-to-back wins since August were more significant than victory over Sheffield United seven days earlier. He said: "That's what we wanted to get from the game. It was important. "This is a bigger win for us than last weekend. "It's the first time since the start of the season we've won back-to-back games. "The first 45 minutes we weren't at the races. I'll take a little bit of responsibility for that. "I wanted to try a different formation at home and it didn't work for us. "Second half we went back to what we've played before and the players looked more comfortable. "It was a whole different tempo and we got the win we deserved." Alexander believes his side were never in any real danger, despite Dale enjoying plenty of time on the ball. He said: "They hit a lot of long balls and diagonals and we coped with that well. "We just didn't contribute what we wanted to the game. "Second half we had a shot within the first 50 seconds which whizzed past the post. We were on top for the next 50 minutes." The winner, says the Town boss, was out of the top drawer. "It's a suberb strike," he said. "We've won the ball back in a high position, it's found Josh and we've already seen this season what a superb left foot he has. "He wants to score goals and it's a great finish."

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