Manager Robbie Stockdale on Dale’s Good Friday fixture away Stevenage…
“Preparation has been good. Obviously on the back of some positive results and good performances, you can imagine that the confidence is fairly high within the playing squad,” said Stockdale.
“We want to carry that on and we want to finish the season on an upward trajectory, and the next challenge to that is Stevenage which is a really tough game.
“We haven’t been good enough away from home recently and the challenge to the players is can we replicate the performances [from the last three games] because it gives us a chance to get a result.
“Stevenage have a new manager [Steve Evans], who is very experienced. He has been around the game a long, long time and they are obviously in a position like ourselves where we need to pick up points, so we’re expecting a very difficult game.
“We’ve done well recently at home and the challenge to the players is can we replicate that away.”
He continued: “The next game is Stevenage and we want to do exactly the same but it’s going to take a really good effort to do that because we haven’t been good enough on the road and that’s our next job, to try and get a result at Stevenage.
“If I look back, and I’m sure we’ll do a review later on, the team is now is starting to gel a little bit. In the car on the way up here from the training ground I was thinking about how many players we brought in, in January, how many injuries those players have got. We were always going to have a difficult moment and unfortunately it came in one big hit.
“I’d like to think that we’re through that, but, again, there won’t be any let up from me to the players. We have to finish the season as strong as we possibly can because we still need to pick up points.”
On the injury front, Max Taylor is now back in training.
“Everyone has come through last weekend ok. Josh Andrews is training again now - he was poorly, so that’s why he missed out.
“Max Taylor has now had his first training session back with the full squad. It’s probably a little bit early to consider him for Friday, but a really important member of the squad to come back in for the remaining games.”
Watch the full interview on the club’s YouTube channel.