The Opposition: Rochdale

Goalkeepers:

Sam Russell joined the club from Darlington and has also played for Middlesbrough. Rochdale League Appearances: 30.

James Spencer was signed in the summer of 2007 from Stockport County, for whom he made over 100 first team appearances. Rochdale League Appearances: 20

Defenders:

Scott Wiseman joined the club from Darlington this summer. He made 20 appearances for Darlington and has also played for Hull City. Rochdale League Appearances: 8(2).

Simon Ramsden began his career at Sunderland and was signed in January 2006 from Grimsby Town. Rochdale League Appearances: 92(2) Goals: 7.

Rory McArdle is a former Sheffield Wednesday youth player and was at Spotland on lengthy loan periods for the last two seasons and signed permanently for the Dale in the summer. Rochdale League Appearances: 101(4) Goals: 5.

Thomas Kennedy was signed in the summer from Bury and made over 150 first team appearances for them. Rochdale League Appearances: 61 Goals: 3.

Nathan Stanton made over 250 appearances for Scunthorpe before moving to Rochdale in 2006. Rochdale League Appearances: 79.

Marcus Holness was signed this season from Oldham and has made 10 league starts. Rochdale League Appearances: 14(9).

Nathan D'Laryea joined Rochdale from Manchester City in 2007. Rochdale League Appearances: 4(4).

Midfield:

Mark Jones has signed after being released by Wrexham last season. Jones is a full Wales international and was a regular with Wrexham for about three years.

Adam Rundle is a left sided midfield player who was released by Mansfield Town in the summer of 2006 and moved to Spotland. He was formerly with Carlisle United and Darlington. Rochdale League Appearances: 74(15) Goals: 13.

Clark Keltie joined the club this summer from Darlington. He made over 150 appearnces for Darlington, scoring 11 goals. Rochdale League Appearances: 8(1).

Gary Jones is in his second spell at Spotland, having had two seasons at Barnsley in between. He has played over 340 times for the club and seems set to break the Rochdale appearance record this season, which is 345 by Graham Smith. He has scored 7 goals this season. Rochdale League Appearances: 315(18) Goals: 49.

Joe Thompson has come up through the youth system at Rochdale. Rochdale League Appearances: 13(20) Goals: 2.

David Flitcroft began his career at Preston and had a loan spell at Lincoln City before moving to Chester in 1994. He made over 150 appearances for Chester, scoring 22 goals. He joined Rochdale in 1999 and made over 150 appearances in his first spell at the club scoring 4 goals before briefly moving on to Macclesfield and then Bury where he made over 100 appearances scoring 4 goals. He re-joined Rochdale last summer. Rochdale League Appearances: 143(19) Goals: 4.

Ciaran Toner joined Rochdale in July 2008. Toner began his career at Tottenham and had loan spells at Bristol Rovers and Peterborough while at White Hart Lane. He joined Leyton Orient in 2002 and moved on to Lincoln City, having a short loan spell at Cambridge United. He joined Grimsby in 2005 and has scored 15 goals in over 100 appearances. Rochdale League Appearances: 8(3).

William Buckley is a product of the youth system at Rochdale. Rochdale League Appearances: 10(10), goals:5.

Strikers:

Chris Dagnall is a former Tranmere striker, who scored in the 1-1 draw against Barnet at Spotland two seasons ago and scored 17 goals from 32 appearances last season. He has missed a lot of this season through injury but has scored 6 goals for the Dale in just 5 starts and 4 substitute appearances. Rochdale League Appearances: 67(23) Goals: 34.

Youngster, Kallum Higginbottom has come up through the youth system and made his debut last season for the first team. Rochdale League Appearances: 25(11) Goals: 4. He is on loan at Accrington Stanley.

Lee Thorpe is Rochdale's latest signing and is a much travelled striker, who has signed from Brentford. Thorpe scored 4 goals from 21 appearances for the West London club having joined them in the summer from Torquay United. Thorpe has also played for Grimsby, Lincoln, Bristol Rovers, Swansea, Blackpool and Leyton Orient. Rochdale League Appearances: 11(8) Goals: 4.

Jon Shaw signed from Halifax Town in July 2008. He began his career at Sheffield Wednesday before joining Burton Albion in 2004. He scored 26 goals for the Brewers before moving to Halifax in 2007 and scored 20 goals last season. Rochdale League Appearances: 2 Goals: 1.

Adam LeFondre, who joined the club from Stockport County in the summer following a loan spell last season at Spotland. Rochdale League Appearances: 45(26) Goals: 22.

Jordan Rhodes is on loan from Ipswich Town. He has made 10 appearances as a substitute for the Tractor Boys, scoring 1 goal. He had a spell on loan at Oxford United last season. Rochdale League Appearances: 5 Goals: 2.