A weekend without football is never a good thing, but when it is because of an untimely exit from the cup, it seems somehow to be even worse.

The break did, however, give some members of the squad some much-needed additional recovery time, and as a fan it gave me yet more time for reflection on this season's efforts so far.

The win at Morecambe looked like being a turning point for me as the defence chucked everything they had into stopping the Shrimps from scoring and I thought we had seen a new dawn in the life of the back four.

Results since then have, however, reverted to early season form with poor home performances and stalwart away ones.

As I look at the table today we sit in 13th place with some big names (Bradford, Stockport, Lincoln) below us and we have won seven of our 17 matches. If we continue this win percentage then we should be safe well before the final weeks of the season.

But we do not want to live in the "safe", boring, mid-table section of the league do we?

Of course not. As football fans we always strive for the next level of performance and for promotion.

Perhaps we should take a history lesson from one or two of the clubs in our division who have lived the dream only to see it come crashing down around them. Bradford spent money to stay in the big time and failed.

It was only when they hit League Two did they start to repay their loyal fans with the lowest priced season ticket in the land and their fans have responded by turning up in their thousands to cheer on an uninspiring bottom half team.

Lincoln have been in the play-offs for the last few years and, after failing last year, sacked their manager, only to witness a spectacular slump in the league.

Rochdale will be a tough test as all derby matches are, but it is a game we can win and indeed should win.

I only hope we can finally transfer some of our away form to the Fraser Eagle Stadium.