Vale enjoyed a positive start to the 2010–11 season. However, in January 2011, Dodds found he was not a first team regular under new manager Jim Gannon, despite calls from supporters for Gannon to include Dodds in the first eleven. Yet he managed to force himself back into contention with an impressive strike to seal a 2–1 win over Macclesfield Town on 5 March, after coming into the match as a late substitute. After Gannon left the club just two weeks later, Dodds admitted that he probably would have left the club had Gannon remained in charge much longer. He scored his first hat-trick in the English Football League on 30 April, along with Justin Richards, in a 7–2 win over Morecambe.