By Tony Leighton

Don't mention history to Rochdale manager Keith Hill. As he prepares to lead Dale out at Wembley for next Monday's League 2 Play-Off final against Stockport County, Hill is fed up with continually hearing that, as the club celebrate their 100th anniversary, they will be appearing at the national stadium for the first time ever and attempting to climb out of The Football League's bottom division for the first time in 34 years - the longest continuous spell at League 2 level of any club currently down there.

Confronted with the facts and figures one more time, Hill retorts: "I'm sick of hearing about the club's history and what we haven't done. I've been here 18 months, not 34 years and so that weight's not been on my shoulders. I'm really excited about the future, but history? If I'm honest, I'm not too concerned about it - at school in history classes I used to go to sleep."

Sleep has been the last thing on Hill's Spotland agenda since he was promoted from youth team coach to manager in December 2006. At the time Dale were third from bottom of the table and in the middle of a relegation scrap. But such was the new manager's impact that they shot up the table to finish just two places behind the Play-Offs, a position on which they have improved this term to put themselves within one match of clinching that long-awaited promotion.

Dale will end an exciting campaign at Wembley after beating Darlington in a dramatic Play-Off semi-final penalty shoot-out and Hill says: "Expectation has increased because of the way we finished last season, but all credit to our young squad. I brought in hungry young players who wanted to step up the footballing ladder and that's what they're doing.

"The players are ambitious, the club has turned the corner and now we want to get into League 1. We're all looking forward to Wembley, but we're up against a very good Stockport team who have beaten us twice in the League this season. They're capable, defensively solid and they counter-attack well too. Like Darlington in fact - but we deservedly won our semi-final against them.

"We've got an appetite for winning - of our last nine home games we've won eight and drawn one, so we're encouraged by our form. But the only good thing about going to Wembley is winning - nobody remembers the losers. So instead of hearing about history we'll be there to try and create some history for people to talk about."