Olly Lancashire admits that he’s looking forward to the festive period as Dale get ready for back-to-back home games.
Rochdale face Colchester United at Spotland on Saturday, before hosting Crewe Alexandra on Boxing Day.
“It’s a period we always look forward to. Everyone enjoys the Christmas period as a footballer and as a football fan,” said Lancashire.
“The next two games take us to the half way point.
“Six points will put us in a good position. Both games are going to be tough, even although we’re at home, so we’ve got to work hard and hopefully we can do that.
“Our form this year has been a bit up and down but we believe that on our day we can beat anyone in this league. It’s about making sure we do that on a week to week basis, starting Saturday.”
The centre-half scored in last weekend’s defeat to Swindon Town – his first of the 2015-16 campaign.
He’s pleased to get off the mark and hopes there’s more to come.
“It has definitely been coming. I feel like I’ve had a couple of chances from corners this year. Beechy always takes the mick out of me so it was nice to get on the score sheet. Hopefully there will be many more to come.”
Ten man Dale showed excellent character and spirit against the Robins last weekend, and despite the final score-line, Lancashire says the players will take the positives into Saturday’s game.
“We obviously go into every game trying to get the three points. The way the first half went with the sending off, we would have taken a point in the end. In the second half, I thought we definitely showed the fighting spirit but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.
“I thought we did well in the second half and we had a couple of chances to nick a point. We are disappointed but we’ll take that into this Saturday.”
The full interview is on Dale PlayerHD.