Rochdale return to league action this Saturday, hosting Leyton Orient in Sky Bet League Two.
Before attention turned to Bolton Wanderers in the Papa John’s Trophy and Sunday’s Emirates FA Cup first round tie against Notts County, Dale were unbeaten in four in the league, following the victory over Barrow in their last outing.
Manager Robbie Stockdale is hoping to take that momentum into the weekend’s fixture.
“I really hope we do,” said the Gaffer.
“The FA Cup was a difficult game but we came out of it still in the draw. The sole focus is to try and win three league games on the bounce and, if we do that at the weekend, that’s good momentum to take into next week’s replay.
“Obviously when the cup games come around it’s exciting because it’s knock out, but the mentality is always the same going into any game.
“We always want to try and play on the front foot and it’s something we try to be consistent with in our work during the week, but again, it’ll be another difficult game.
“Leyton Orient are an experienced team with an experienced manager. As I always say, we have to be at our best in any game to try and win it.”
Reflecting on the 1-1 draw with Notts County, Stockdale commented: “Looking back at the game at the weekend, we didn’t play at our best but we certainly did enough to win the game with the chances.
“It’s 100% a penalty at the end. I thought it was a penalty at time and I’ve seen back the footage. Obviously you’ve got to score the penalty but it gives you a great chance to progress. We’ll go there [to Meadow Lane for the replay] with good form in the league, hopefully, and get a good result.
A second round tie against either Sheffield Wednesday or Plymouth Argyle at home, live on ITV4, await the winners of next week’s replay.
“It’s another draw at home if we get through so that’s a positive. The eyes on the prize is obviously going to Notts County firstly to try and get a result there so we can get to play one of those big teams at home. It’s a good carrot for both teams to play well on Tuesday.”
And the Boss says that Alex Newby and Max Taylor are back in training after missing Sunday’s match through injury.
“Hopefully we’ll maybe get a couple back that missed the Notts County game. Alex Newby and Max Taylor have trained today [Thursday], so that’s a positive.
“Jim McNulty is still missing, unfortunately, so he’s still doing his rehab.
“We’ve had quite a few players come back from injury so we’ll see how they are after a full weeks’ training.”
Watch the manager’s pre-match interview in full on the club’s YouTube channel.