It’ll be another tough away day for the Blues on Saturday afternoon as they come up against a Rochdale side who must be feeling that they shouldn’t be where they are right now.
With quality throughout their side there’s no doubt that Jim Bentley will be looking to steer them away from the drop zone, sooner rather than later.
“I think they’re a good footballing side, even watching them now,” manager Paul Simpson said. “They have three really good midfielders who are excellent on the ball and they’re comfortable in possession.
“They have forwards of the likes of Rodney and Quigley who are sharp. Quigley caused us all kinds of problems up here when we drew, and Henderson is one with a fantastic scoring record wherever he is.
“I don’t know the reasons why they are where they are, but I also know that it can turn very quickly. Look at what we did last February, these things happen in football.
“We’ve got to make sure their catalyst of a positive result isn’t against us. I like Jim Bentley, I think he’s a great manager and a top fella, but I just hope he’s not very happy at the end of Saturday.”
And Dale’s boss is one who is used to getting the best out of difficult situations.
“He’s very experienced and he knows how to handle these situations,” the boss agreed. “He’s also been up the top of the table, let’s not forget that, and I’m quite sure when he went into Rochdale that he wasn’t expecting this to be the league position at this stage.
“They’ve had a bad run, they got a couple of sendings off last weekend, which won’t help them, and that’s the sort of thing that can happen when you’re down there.
“Players get frustrated, things go against you, there can be daft decisions and it costs you. This weekend we have to make sure that of all the scrapping and fighting, or whatever else comes, we need to keep our composure and discipline and make sure we try to play the game our way.
“Look at us at Orient in my first game last season. Omari scored and momentum swings so quickly in this game. You just need something to lift you and you’re off.
“On Tuesday night we went into a game where they’re buoyant after their weekend win, we haven’t played for a while, and you need to make sure you’re right. We did that, we started right, and suddenly they’re rocking a bit.
“We need to do the same again on Saturday so that the team that gets the momentum is us. We want to be all over them from the off, making it really difficult, and with the way our fans are I know they’ll be right behind us.
“I love coming out of the tunnel and seeing our fans. We’ve sold over 1,200 already, that’s amazing. Thinking back to the year when we were champions in League Two, I remember coming out down there and seeing that side packed, and I don’t think we’ll be far off that again this weekend.
“We’ve got make sure we do everything we can to make it a good afternoon for all of us. The players have earned the right to be backed by that number of supporters because of the way they’ve gone about it.
“What they have to do now is to make sure they keep earning by doing it right. We’ve done it well for 26 games, let’s have the same in game number 27.
“Mentally we have to prepare properly and I told them on Thursday that normally we would just do a recovery session, and it would be a nice easy day, but I had them all out on the grass because it’s so important that our heads are on the job that still needs to be done.
“There’s no relaxing, they’ll get days to rest, but through this little batch of games we need to be fully at it. Anybody could be needed at any time, I might switch the starters to keep things fresh, who knows.
“They need to do the work and when the time is right we’ll give them an extra day off and an extra rest period. Right now they need to have their football heads on so that they’re ready to go on Saturday, and in the games after that.”
And he insisted that, as with Hartlepool, there’ll be no sense of complacency based on relative league positions.
“You can’t say forget about the table to the players because they’re not stupid, they know Rochdale are bottom and we’re sat fourth in the table,” he told us. “You have to go and treat it properly.
“You just have to look at our results last season, when we went to Orient and picked up a win, and how that can change the whole complexion of the club.
“We’ve got to make sure this weekend, Rochdale don’t get a positive result that gives them a lift, we have to do our job properly. I’m a big believer if you do your own job properly the rest takes care of itself.
“On the flip side knowing that we can get more points to help our situation is a huge incentive. Like I said earlier, if we do our job properly we’ll have a chance of going into the automatic places.
“If we don’t, it’s irrelevant what happens anywhere else. I don’t even know where Northampton play on Saturday because I’m not bothered, it’s just about us doing our job properly.
“If we can do it right, who knows what might happen. If we can get a victory, we know we’ll still only be at worse one point behind them and that’s still a good position to be in.
“There’s expectation now but the players have to handle it the same way they’ve done the first 26. They don’t seem to be having it weighing too heavy on them.
“I always find it interesting because at the moment, we’re the ones chasing the pack above us, I’m not really thinking about the ones below us who are chasing us, I’m just thinking about chasing what’s above us.
“If the opportunity comes to go into those top three places, that’s when it becomes a bit difficult, when we become chased. But I hope the players are able to deal with it.
“For me, I think you have to thrive on that challenge, you’ve got to go and grab hold and make the most of it. We’re all in football to be successful, we all want to win games of football, we want to achieve promotions, get medals for it.
“And then obviously as a footballer you get the financial rewards that go with that. Whatever rocks your boat you have to go and grab those opportunities when you can.”
