He joined Alan Buckley's struggling Third Division Rochdale on a one-month loan at the start of the 2003–04 campaign, having scored against the club in a pre-season friendly. Booked in his first three games, he was sent off 67 minutes into a 2–2 draw with Cambridge United at Spotland. The loan was extended to three months, and on 30 September, he scored at former club Macclesfield, in a 2–1 defeat, as he "danced into the box before gleefully steering the ball into the far corner". He returned to Manchester in November after turning down the opportunity to add to his fifteen appearances for the "Dale", and was sent out on loan to Neale Cooper's Second Division Hartlepool United the following month. He played fifteen games for the "Pools", scoring one goal in a 5–2 thrashing of Port Vale at Vale Park.