NIGEL Clough expects Rochdale to come out battling after two heavy defeats in a row.
The Brewers travel to the Crown Oil Arena tomorrow to face a team that has conceded nine goals in losing to Bradford and Doncaster in the last two games.
Clough is expecting a reaction from the Rochdale players to those big defeats.
He said: “Rochdale have lost a couple heavily recently but are one of those teams that can turn it around and stick three or four past you.
“If you have heavy defeats like that if you have anything about you as players you come out and say 'we are not conceding today'.
“Sometimes you get all the rubbish out of the way in a game or two and then start defending properly again and I’m sure that’s what they will be looking to do.”
Clough is hoping that his players don’t have one eye on Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Manchester City.
He said: “We have Rochdale away and then Gillingham at home and despite having Manchester City in the Carabao Cup semis in between they are the two important ones. The league points are vital for us.
“We want to try and establish ourselves in the top half of the table in the next few weeks. Manchester City will take care of itself, one way or another, the two league games are far more important.
“We will be saying to the lads ‘get your minds off Wednesday and concentrate on this’. We want the lads to stay focussed for Rochdale as if they don’t do their jobs on Saturday there is a good chance they might not be involved on Wednesday as well.”