Awards are already in hands following a fantastic start to the new season as the Enterprise National League Manager and Player of the Month are recognised.
After the announcement of the nominations last week, our panel had some big decisions to make – and ultimately, they concluded that it had to be a Rochdale double.
It was a summer of soul-searching by Jimmy McNulty after his team got it horribly wrong in the play-offs.
But the manager and his players look like they are determined to right what went wrong following their Eliminator collapse in May. They are already looking the part.
In fact, only two sides in the past decade have recorded a better start to a campaign after six games than Rochdale this season.
They started with a professional 2-0 win at Boreham Wood, before back-to-back home successes against Altrincham and Gateshead.
After changing his entire side at Brackley Town, one defeat wasn’t about to wreck Dale’s month – they went on to beat Sutton United and Wealdstone with a bit to spare.
One of McNulty’s new signings is already providing the magic.
After persuading Mani Dieseruvwe that the Crown Oil Arena was the place the striker should now call home, he has taken no time to settle in after putting his keys in the door!
Dieseruvwe is already loving life at Rochdale and got his feet well and truly under the table with a brace at Boreham Wood on the opening weekend.
He notched three more in games against Sutton United and Wealdstone, before scoring and assisting Ethan Ebanks-Landell for his winner against Gateshead.
Congratulations to our two big winners!
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