CLIVE Platt has urged his Bury team-mates to focus on the strides made over the past month rather than Saturday’s trip-up at Cheltenham as the striker plots the downfall of his former club Rochdale at the JD Stadium tomorrow night.

The 36-year-old former Spotland favourite opened up his account for the Shakers at the weekend.

But Platt’s first goal in six appearances for Bury was overshadowed after the Robins came back to win 2-1.

“Over the last few weeks we have been the better team by a country mile in every game I’ve played, we just dropped the standards a little bit at Cheltenham,” he said, after the Shakers fell to their first defeat in seven matches.

“The way the lads have been playing, it’s been a pleasure to be part of over the last month.

“So we have got to concentrate on what we have been building rather than this one game.”

Bury had rivalled high-flying Rochdale in the form tables over recent weeks after falling to just one defeat in 10 matches, picking up seven points from three successive away games prior to Saturday.

And Platt wants to see the Shakers go on another unbeaten run, starting with a positive result at home to their derby rivals.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t take at least one point out of Saturday’s game, but we will learn from this and hopefully it can be another seven games before we experience defeat again.”

The veteran striker’s main focus now is getting one over on Dale – where he spent four years at the start of his career alongside Bury manager David Flitcroft, scoring 30 goals in 170 appearances and narrowly missing out on promotion from the fourth tier after losing in the 2002 play-off semi-finals.

“We had some great seasons, it was a real great team at that time,” he said.

“It’s a club that I still hold dear.

“Although I started my career officially at Walsall, it’s where I learned about first-team football, so I look back on that with fond memories, but I would love to beat them.”

And after spending a month on the road since Bury’s last home match, against Oxford on February 4, Platt is hoping they can show the fans just how far they have come in that time.

He added: “Obviously it’s been a while away from home, so it’s going to be good to get back and, hopefully, put a show.”