With exactly one month to go till the start of the 2008-9 season, Dale will be swapping the current Rochdale monsoons for the Spanish sunshine as they fly out to Marbella today for the pre-season trip to Spain to work on their fitness, with a couple of friendly games thrown in for good measure.

And if anybody thinks they're off for a Jolly Boys' outing, then think again, as the trip proved to be highly beneficial last season, and Keith Hill and Dave Flitcroft will be hoping for more of the same this time round.

Our fitness last year proved to be the key difference in many, many games with the number of late goals being worth several points to us over the season, and the fitness and conditioning work done in Spain contributed towards that.

They kick off the tour with a mini tournement on Saturday evening. They play Peterboro in a 45 minute game, with the winners taking on the winners of a friendly between Marbella and the Iranian national side, with the two losing sides playing off.

The game will take place at the very luxurious sounding "Marbella Paradise of Football and Sport" in La Quinta, Marbela and should any Dale fans be over there at the time, they will be able to watch the game.

The games are part of a charity event for local cancer charity Cudeca, with entrance fees being voluntary as part of the fund raising. As well as the four games taking place, there will be music, food and children's entertainment.

It is believed Sky Sports will be present as part of their coverage of Marbella for the forthcoming season, so we may get a few glimpses of the action on Sky Sports News over the weekend.

Photo: Action Images

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