Jimmy Bell wants Stanley to use their extra preparation time to their advantage as they return to action at Tranmere.

Having been knocked out of the FA Cup, Stanley were without a game last weekend and travel to Prenton Park after a 14-day break.

Assistant boss Bell says that has allowed them to both bask in the glory of a 7-1 win over Bolton on November 23 and focus on the upcoming trip to face a Rovers side who are two points and three points below them.

Tranmere on the other hand have played twice within the last week, beating non-league Chichester in the FA Cup on Sunday and Manchester United Under-21s in the Leasing.com Trophy on Wednesday.

“We’ve had of time to think, get players back to peak performance, be it rested, or a couple of weeks training in them,” Bell said of the enforced break.

“We’ve got some injured players back which is very good.

“It all bodes well to going to Tranmere to get three points against a very well-organised side who have a couple of good results.

“It works both ways. We’ve had a couple of games to keep us in ticking over and hopefully everyone will be firing on all cylinders come Saturday.”

Bell accepts it will only be at 3pm tomorrow will they know whether the break has proved to be a positive, but doesn’t want a lack of game-time to be used as something of an excuse.

While Tranmere have had just two days to prepare, Stanley on the other hand have had two weeks to put in the hard yards.

“It can be labelled at a team and used as an excuse, or you can use that as a positive,” Bell added.

“As soon as you start the game you have to make things drop in your favour.

“It all will all come out in the wash on Saturday.

“Hopefully we’ll be fresh, ready to go, Tranmere have had two tough games and we haven’t played so we have to use that in our favour.

“We have to make sure we’re ready for them.

“We’ve been planning for this game for two weeks now, not for two days, so hopefully everything falls in to our favour.”

Stanley were among the league’s lowest scorers before their magnificent seven against 10-man Bolton.

Reflecting on that, Bell said: “Firstly it was a fantastic performance and you want to back it up with a game straight away, but we’ve had two weeks of enjoying that performance that we haven’t had much of this season.

“I’ve analysed it to death and the difference between that and the rest of the season was that our forwards were very hungry that day.

“We’ve been on to them that the hunger, desire and will to score has to be higher and take a little bit off the defending.”

  • Stanley will welcome loanees Aji Alese and Jerome Opoku back in to their squad for the trip to Tranmere Rovers.

The Reds squad is looking healthier, with the loan duo available for the first time since the FA Cup defeat to Crewe on November 9.

Full back Callum Johnson is also back from suspension, after sitting out the 7-1 thumping of Bolton after collecting five yellow cards.

While welcoming the trio back in to the fold, assistant boss Jimmy Bell says that will bring tough decisions when it comes to team selection, given the impressive showing in the win over Bolton last time out.

“We have got Aji back from West Ham, he was away with England before that, he had a slight groin injury but is back to full fitness, as is Jerome Opoku,” said Reds assistant Bell.

“Everyone else, Sean had a little knock, as did Phil Edwards, but they are both fine and had a good week training this week.

“We’re more or less there, it’s just Zain Francis-Angol and Courtney Baker-Richardson.

“We’ve got people who can play a lot of positions and back to full fitness so a few decisions to make.

“Callum or Harvey (Rodgers) at right back, midfielders coming out of our ears, strikers who played well last time out so we have a healthy squad at the moment.”