Harvey Gilmour says seeing teammates return to the Dale squad gives everyone a huge lift.
The midfielder has started every game so far this season under Jimmy McNulty, becoming a key component of the Head Coach’s squad.
Gilmour believes that with players such as Kairo Mitchell and Cian Hayes returning, along with the likes of Adam Clayton, Devante Rodney and George Nevett to come back, Dale can have a positive end to the season.
“It gives us a huge lift,” commented the 25-year-old.
“With the likes of Kairo coming back, Clayts [Adam Clayton] and Dev [Devante Rodney] to come back in will be a big help for us.
“We’ve also signed Hayesy [Cian Hayes] again who will be a great addition to the team – he was class a couple of months ago. We’ve definitely got a stronger squad now, especially with the run of games coming up.
“Now we’re getting them back it gives us a huge chance to try and kick on. I’ve had a couple of years in this league where it’s not been as tight as it is this year. Not a lot separates teams from fourth downwards. In this league, anyone can beat anyone, so I think if we can keep it consistent, we’ll do well.”
Dale suffered back-to-back league defeats for the first time this season last weekend, but Gilmour says a solid period on the training ground puts the squad in a better position.
“It’s not nice to go two defeats on the spin but with it being the first it’s happened this season, it shows how much we’ve improved.
“Having those three weeks off [before Aldershot Town away] killed our momentum, because we were playing well before then, but we looked sluggish at Aldershot and in the weekend just gone we didn’t really create enough to win the game.
“But we’ve had a good week training and I think it puts us in a lot better position, so hopefully we can change that on Saturday.”
Dale travel to Altrincham this weekend, an opponent we ran out 3-0 winners over back in November.
“I remember us being relentless with the ball and with our chances. They played very well on the day but we I thought we controlled large parts of the game, especially in the first half. We got our press and regains right.
“We know their strengths and their weaknesses. They’re good in the transitions and they have match winners. We need to try and nullify their strengths to have a good chance of winning the game.”
