Jamie Allen admits that he’s pleased to be back involved after recovering from the serious dead-leg injury which had kept him side-lined since the end of October.
The midfielder, who was named on the bench for Monday’s trip to Scunthorpe United, told www.rochdaleafc.co.uk:
“It’s good to be back involved - I’ve missed it, to be honest.
“I’ve had to watch on from the stands which isn’t the best feeling in the world so I’m glad to be back. I’m glad to be back in training and back in the squad. Hopefully I’ll get back into the side soon.”
Allen was forced to almost completely rest while his calf healed, which was frustrating for the 20-year-old.
“I had to completely rest it because I had to make sure I wasn’t making it any worse.
“I’ve never really been injured before, so to go from training every day to then doing nothing was difficult and frustrating.
“I still came into the club every day, though, and as time went on I did some bike work before resting again. After being out for seven weeks or so I'll have to continue working hard on the training pitch to keep building up my fitness levels.”
Allen, who was an unused substitute in Monday’s League One fixture against the Iron, was impressed with the team’s performance and says it gives them confidence going into the weekend’s game against league leaders Walsall.
“The team played very well, particularly in the second half and I felt we had the chances to the win game. We couldn’t put the chances away but it was a great point away at a good Scunthorpe side.
“Saturday’s game will be difficult because Walsall are playing well. They’re top of the league but we’ve got confidence in the side that we can go and beat anyone, so we’ll be full of confidence that we can win the game.”
Allen is Rochdale born and bred and says his heart goes out to those affected by the Boxing Day floods.
“I personally wasn’t affected by the floods but most of my mates were and it was difficult for them. I had everything working at home, electricity etc, so I invited them round to my house.
“It’s really bad what happened and I feel for those affected. It was good to see that there are some good people out there - there were food vans giving away free food to those who had no power and local hotels were giving away free rooms for the night to people whose houses were flooded.
“It was really good seeing and hearing about people helping each other.”