Assistant Manager Chris Beech insists the Rochdale players will be taking nothing for granted when Dale face Slough Town in the second round of the Emirates FA Cup on Monday night.
Rochdale will take on the Southern Premier League side under the floodlights, live on BT Sport.
“The players are on TV and they’ve got to make sure they give a good account of themselves,” said Beech.
“We want them to represent what we are in terms of the message around the way that we want to play, but more importantly, it’s about winning and making sure that we’re in round three.
“The Emirates FA Cup is a great competition, because of what it stands for and the opportunity that it provides.
“We’re expecting a tough game at Arbour Park, and we had a similar experience away at Maidstone in the first round last year. The cameras went live to the ground for the last five minutes of that one, because they were desperate for Campsy not to score that free-kick!
“We know that’s part of the drama surrounding the FA Cup and we’re aware of that, and we’ll prepare professionally. We’ve got a good three days’ worth of training on 4G, due to Slough having an artificial surface.
“We’ve got to make sure that we’re ready and I think the experience gained at Maidstone last year will stand the lads in good stead. This season, we were very professional against Bromley in the first round and we’re going to need a repeat of how were in that game on Monday night as we take on Slough.”
Monday night’s opponents have scored 48 goals in 16 league matches so far this season, and put six past Gainsborough Trinity in the first round of of the FA Cup to progress to this stage of the competition.
“Slough are a very good team and they score a lot of goals. They’re sixth in the league but they’ve got four games in hand because of this cup run, so they’ll want to get promoted.
“The joint management team have been together a very long time and they’ll have a great team spirit. They also have an opportunity as individuals to make a name for themselves.
“They’ve got a chap who scored a hat-trick in round one - Matt Lench - and they’ve got four players that are already on double figures, so we know that it’ll be a tough test.
“There’s no given right that we’ll be in the third round, so we’re not taking anything for granted. We’re going to give everything while expecting nothing, and we’ve got to earn our right to be in round three.”
The draw for round three of the competition will take place shortly before the teams kick-off on Monday night and Beech says the players will be full focused on the game ahead by that point.
“We’ll have people who are aware of it but there will be no changing room interest. The lads will be warming up at that point so we’ll be outside.
“I went to the Chorley v Fleetwood game in the last round and you could see the drama, the cameras, the lights and the star guests that are on the TV so I get it all, but we’ve just got to concentrate on Slough and we’ve got to give the game everything we’ve got.
“While that draw is going on, it’s just something that's going on, because it means nothing until you’ve gained.”
Watch the full interview on iFollow.