Assistant Manager Chris Beech looks ahead to Dale’s League One fixture v Fleetwood Town at the Highbury Stadium…
The match is the first of two away fixtures for Rochdale, with the side set to make the short trip to Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday evening.
Dale head into the games on the back of last weekend’s draw against Bristol Rovers and Beech says every point at this time of the season is important.
“We were pleased with the point because picking up any point at this time in the season is valued, and now we’re looking towards two away games as we look to improve our points tally.
“We’re still competing at the right end of the table and we’ve got to make sure that we stay competitive. We’ve got to look after ourselves and make sure we represent what we are about.”
He continued: “We pride ourselves on the way we go about trying to win football matches, and when we and the players get it right, we don’t half hit some hot spots. We’re looking to get back to those traits and we’ve had a good week on the training pitch to get back to those levels.
“This time of the year can be tough with the weather and the pitches, but we can see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a good time to see that light because the next two games are at two fantastic venues against two teams who are five points in front of us, so we’re really looking forward to it.”
Rochdale recorded their first win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Fleetwood Town at the Crown Oil Arena back in September. Fleetwood are now on an 18-game unbeaten run and Beech is taking nothing for granted.
“As a team, they’re all in. They’re playing to be successful, they’re enjoying what they’re doing and they’ve found a method to stay in games in order to gain three points. They’re doing very well in the league and we’ve got the opportunity to go against a very good opponent on Saturday.
“[The win in September] was good for us because it was the start of our season with respect to gaining three points. The performances prior to that game were good but we weren’t getting what we deserved, and that win started our season.
“Saturday’s game might do that again this season, but who knows. We’ll take nothing for granted, other than the fact that we’re turning up at Fleetwood Town and we’re going to be looking to get back to everything we know about our traits and how we want to go out playing football.
“We want a positive result.”
Watch the full interview on Dale PlayerHD.