ROCHDALE HORNETS coach Gary Thornton says the inconsistent nature of the League One fixture list is making it hard for teams to get going this season.
The whole league had a weekend off just gone, with teams already facing two bye weeks and now an additional two free weekends following the demise of Cornwall, which is causing a fragmented fixture list.
Some clubs have had two or three consecutive weekends without a game, and playing in consecutive weeks is almost a rare occurrence for the third-tier teams.
Rochdale suffered defeat last time out at home to Workington, and welcome Swinton for a Good Friday clash.
Thornton said: “This league is very inconsistent. You play one week and then have one week off.
“We’re not playing every week, so we can’t get that consistency going. We’ve already had a week off after the Whitehaven game.
“We’ve played Swinton once already in the 1895 Cup and beat them. We could do with not having a week off.
“We want to be back on the field putting things right, but it’s not the case, we have to wait another fortnight. It’s not ideal.
“It’s a tough one. We’ve got to get back doing what we were doing at the start of the season. There’s still a long way to go, but we always set our stall out to win our home games and we came unstuck against Workington.
“We were really disappointed with that result. We’ve got a bit of work to do.”
It appears Rochdale will have to do without the services of Brad Gallagher, who featured on dual-registration from Oldham against Workington.
The back-rower was forced off injured, and has an MCL issue.
