Eyre’s search for right formula

ROCHDALE boss Steve Eyre has challenged his players to nail down their places in the team with a succession of strong performances – starting tomorrow against Leyton Orient at Spotland.

Eyre has been changing his side in a bid to find consistency and is expected to do the same again.

“We haven’t settled yet and that is the nature of being one of the clubs in the bottom to middle of the table,” he said.

“We can’t be the team that plays the same line-up, the same formation, every week and win.

“We have to look at what the opposition are about. We stumbled across 4-4-2 recently and we’ve played well.

“And while there have been a few draws, it’s one defeat in the last six games – people shouldn’t forget that.

“There was a little bit of malaise in the dressing room after the loss at Exeter last weekend and we had to remind ourselves of the recent run.

“We will endeavour to get the right people in and the right training methods to sort out any problems.

“When that happens we will tear someone apart.”

Eyre dropped on-loan Blackburn stopper Jake Kean for the midweek draw against Chesterfield and is expected to opt for David Lucas’ superior experience again tomorrow.

“Jake is a good goalkeeper,” said Eyre. “He’s done okay for us, but I just recognised the goals-conceded column and the fact we have David Lucas on the staff who has an awful lot of experience.

“I had no qualms about making changes for the Chesterfield game.

“We needed to shake it up after the Exeter loss and I wanted a little more experience on the field.”

Dale will be without Joe Widdowson, Joe Thompson and Marc Twaddle for the Orient clash, but Jason Kennedy could return.