Jim Bentley says he and the players know the importance of Saturday’s trip to Crawley Town.
Dale are seven points behind The Red Devils, who occupy 22nd spot in the Sky Bet League Two table, with a game in hand.
“We want to win the game. We want to get closer to the teams above us,” said Bentley.
“All we can do is our best and try to win the game. It’s a massive game, but they’re all massive. Last week against Swindon was massive and next week against AFC Wimbledon will be massive.
“It’s just that time is ticking away. It’s not all or nothing [this weekend], but it’s getting closer to that. The best thing we can do is win the game.
“We’ve shown for a long period now that we can create opportunities – we’ve just not taken as many as we’ve needed.
“We’ve looked a little bit more robust, but if we defend like we did on Saturday, we’ll concede goals.
“The mentality from my point of view, since day one, has been to win games. We need to do what we can to win. Whether it’s a free-flowing game, a comfortable one, a scrappy one, a smash-and-grab – I’d take anything to get three points on Saturday.
“It's important that everyone remains positive. You want the tempo to be right up there in training and to be fair to the lads, there has been plenty of positives.
“It’s been upbeat. We’re not happy and we don’t like the position that we’re in, but the best thing we can do is be positive, have a good week in training, make sure that the preparation is right going down there, so that come three o’clock on Saturday, the lads know what is expected of them.”
The full pre-match interview with the gaffer is available via our YouTube channel below.