Rochdale boss' message to Portsmouth ahead of League One clash

The Blues travel to Spotland today for their first League One away game of the season (3pm).

Kenny Jackett’s side raised the curtain on their third-tier campaign in disappointing fashion last weekend when held to a goallless draw by Shrewsbury at Fratton Park.

Pompey can’t afford another stuttering start like last campaign that ultimately meant they missed out on automatic promotion.

The Blues have a good record against the Dale, though, winning both fixtures 3-0 in the 2019-20 campaign.

Rochdale’s league season also got off to a poor start as they suffered a 3-1 loss at newly-promoted Swindon.

Barry-Murphy admitted he knows his troops will face a stiff tast against Pompey.

But the Irishman is confident the Dale can pull off an upset.

Speaking to his club's website, Barry-Murphy said: ‘We've had, what we think, some very good games against them in the past couple of years.

‘Kenny and their team will rightly tell you they've beaten us in all them but we have been in those games for long spells and I would suggest control them for good spells.

‘They have a goalscoring squad that have done it over the past couple of years and been up there from the start of the season to the end.

‘We are fully aware how good they are, how dangerous they are but they're a team we don't fear and really feel we can do well against them.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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