Manager Robbie Stockdale reflects on the week and looks ahead to Dale’s Sky Bet League Two fixture against Swindon Town…
“It [last weekend’s defeat to Crawley Town] was a tough result because the performance wasn’t to what we expect," said the Gaffer.
“The message [this week] has been to improve that, to reflect on it and to recognise the bits we need to get better at, and that has been the message all week.
“It has been working on those basics, the basics that I demand from a team and getting back to being difficult to play against and a more energetic and positive team with the ball.”
He continued: “We know that we’re in a difficult moment but before that we were top of the league on a lot of stats but not picking up the results we should have in those games.
“I came away from Bradford where we got beat 2-0 but I could see positive signs in the way that we played and the chances created, but unfortunately against Crawley that wasn’t really the case.
“These things do occur over the season but we need to make sure that we nip it in the bud and get back to playing like we can.”
Saturday’s opponents currently sit second in the League Two table and Stockdale says he wants to give them a difficult game.
“They picked up a really good result at the weekend against Forest Green. We’ve watched them and they play good football, but we’ve been to other away games this year against good opposition - Port Vale and Northampton - and we’ve scored goals, so we’re going there with the mindset to give them a really difficult game and hopefully come back with three points.”
And the Boss provided an injury update ahead of the match.
“Josh Andrews [hamstring problem] is still missing. Stephen Dooley will probably be missing again with a knee injury, so he’s potentially having a scan on that.
“Other than that, just normal bumps and bruises during the week at training so we’ll see who we’ve got available.”
Watch the full interview on the club’s YouTube channel.