TRANMERE Rovers will be encouraged to “walk tall” into the festive encounter with Rochdale at Prenton Park on Boxing Day.

Manager Les Parry and his coaching staff have missed no opportunity to remind players that they are performing better than recent results suggest and have no cause to be inhibited in their football after a run of four League One defeats.

”When you are in a run like this there is a danger that players will want to hide and not accept the ball,” Parry said. “Every manager in the league would admit to that.

“We have been saying to the lads ‘Be confident. You are playing well’.”

Parry added: “When you are winning, everyone wants the ball. Everyone is confident and everyone walks with their shoulders back. When you are in a losing run, people’s shoulders come forward. You can see the body language. They tend to panic a little bit more than when they are winning. It is human nature.

“We’ve tried to reduce the effects of that. I have been impressed with what I’ve seen from the players this week.

“It was a bit of a worry that they might have been a little down but every day in training they have had a bounce in their step.”

Tranmere may be looking for their first win in seven League One outings but they are in a more comfortable position than their visitors.

Rochdale, third from bottom of the table with 18 points – eight fewer than Rovers – sacked manager Steve Eyre and assistant Frank Bunn this week and put youth coach Chris Beech in charge of first-team affairs.

Beech recruited former Barnsley coach Ryan Kidd as his assistant and made it clear he would be interested in taking the job on a permanent basis.