Brian Barry-Murphy wants his side to build on their recent performances in Friday night’s game at Portsmouth.
The Dale boss says it will be a tough game against Kenny Jackett’s promotion chasing side, but one that he describes as a brilliant game for his side.
“We went there last season and it may sound strange, but we played really and got beat 4-1,” said Barry-Murphy.
“There has been team after team from our division who have been to Portsmouth this season and said the same thing, in playing well and getting beaten.
“They have amazing firepower. They can play any combination of forward players and seem to score goals for fun at home. We respect that and know how tough it is going to be.
“It’s a brilliant game for us and it’s coming to the stage of the season now where we’re going to some of the major grounds with great ambitions of us putting in performances that we know we’re capable of.
“We’ve been good since the turn of the year, generally speaking, in our performances, and we’re looking to build on that.”
Dale have almost a full squad to choose from, but may be without Eoghan O’Connell, who picked up a hamstring injury last weekend, and Ollie Rathbone, who has missed the last two games.
“We have nearly everybody back fit in what we believe is an exceptionally talented squad.
“The single most significant factor in our season so far has been player availability.
“We just haven’t been able to have our strongest settled squad available for any period of time this season.
“Even last week, we look as though we’re getting everybody back fit, but Ollie still isn’t fit and Eoghan has an issue with his hamstring. They’re touch and go for the weekend but there’s every likelihood they’ll miss out.
“We’re very strong but we still haven’t got to that stage where we have a clean bill of health and everybody is ready to go.
“That’s been frustrating, but it’s provided brilliant opportunities for some of our younger players and that has been displayed with the likes of Fabio Tavares and Luke Matheson obviously.
“That’s the added benefit but we aren’t in the position in the table at the moment where we feel as we should be, but that’s just a minor thing in terms of where we’re going.
“We believe that over the next block of games and towards the end of the season that we’ll show everybody how good we are.”
Click HERE to watch the full pre-match interview with Barry-Murphy on iFollow.