The Youth Team are back in action on Saturday for the first time in four weeks, as they face Walsall at Birmingham County FA Headquarters.
Rochdale’s last outing saw them beat league leaders Wigan Athletic 2-0, and despite a backlog of games, Dale remain second in the Youth Alliance table, eight points behind the Latics, having played three games less.
“We’re ready and raring to go,” said Academy PDP Lead Coach Chris Brown.
“We’ve not played for a few weeks now so we’re looking forward to getting back to it.
“The Wigan game seems ages ago, but it was a really good performance that day. Since then, we’ve played two closed doors game, against City and Oldham, and did really well. There were a lot of positives, so we’ll look to keep momentum going and hopefully the performances will keep coming, both individually and collectively.”
Walsall have challenged at the top end of the Youth Alliance table over the last few years and have always provided tough opposition for Dale. This season, they find themselves third bottom of the division, but Brown believes his side are still in for a stern test in a keenly contested fixture.
“Walsall have been a really good team for the last few of years and they play some really good football.
“They’re energised and quick, and they play at a good tempo, so we’re expecting a tough test. Having not played for a few weeks might hinder us, I’m not sure, but we’ve been working hard in training and in the two games that we’ve organised, so the fitness levels of the players are still up there. Hopefully we can perform individually and collectively, and we can come away with a win following a good performance.”
Watch the full interview on iFollow.