Manager Keith Hill has revealed that he came close to adding a forward to his squad this week but missed out.
Speaking to Dale Player about recruitment, he commented: “We’ve tried to recruit this week. We thought we had the green light but lost out on the player as a result of being a League One club.
“And I can understand because it does happen.
“We tried to loan a striker off a League One club and I understand the manager’s situation and the club’s situation. It’s very, very difficult to do business on outfield players, especially strikers, with competitors in the same league.
“If a striker was to come to us on loan and score six goals in six games, it can make you, as a manager, look a little bit foolish.
“That’s the main area of possible recruitment, but I don’t want to bring a young player in who would be no better than, or wouldn’t give us any advantage over Nyal Bell or Joe Bunney, for example.”
And Hill says he is willing to be patient until the right player becomes available.
“It’s very difficult to get the players available now. There might be a shake-up probably in three weeks time when the loan window closes - there might be one or two clubs willing to let players leave then.
“If you look right across the canvas now at other league clubs there aren’t too many strikers available. No-one is letting strikers out and I understand that, but one or two might become available as the month of March progresses.
“We’ve got a lot of games in such a small period of time, with 16 games left in arguably nine weeks, but I’m prepared to continue [with the players that we’ve got].
The full interview is available to view on Dale Player.