Dale returned to the EFL with a dramatic penalty shootout win over Boreham Wood in the Enterprise National League promotion final.
A Boreham Wood goal in either half saw Dale 2-0 down with less than 15 minutes to play, before Tyler Smith pulled a goal back.
It looked lost for Dale, before Mani Dieseruvwe’s 97th minute header sent the game to extra time.
No further goals were scored, with Oliver Whatmuff’s heroics - saving two penalties - earning Dale promotion.
There was one change to Dale's starting line-up from last Sunday’s semi-final win against Scunthorpe United, Aidan Barlow replaced the injured Dan Moss, with Luke Hannant moving to wing-back.
Dale could have been behind inside a minute when former Dale loanee Leon Ayinde went through one-on-one with Oliver Whatmuff, but the goalkeeper made a fine one-handed save low to his left.
Dale saw plenty of the ball following that moment, but balls into the final third and the Boreham Wood area didn’t prove fruitful.
Boreham Wood took the lead midway through the half, when Abdul Abdulmalik’s trickery allowed him to cross, with Matt Rush looping a header over the Dale defence and into the far corner.
Abdulmalik again created space as Boreham Wood had a strong spell, this time going for goal himself from distance, forcing Whatmuff into a fingertip save over the bar.
Devante Rodney and Tobi Adebyao-Rowling fired shots well off target for Dale, whilst the former’s cross to Mani Dieseruvwe from the right landed nicely on the striker’s head, but he headed wide from a central position.
Chris Bush and James Clarke sent shots off target before the break,.
Just after the interval, substitute Joe Pritchard fired a powerful shot wide of the far post.
Dieseruvwe saw a header from a corner deflected wide, and Rodney’s snapshot from the edge of the area was well blocked, as Dale looked to draw level.
However, only a one-on-one stop from Whatmuff denied Rush a second goal from close range, before Abdulmalik had a shot superbly blocked by Ethan Ebanks-Landell and Ayinde fired inches wide.
Dale created chances, with Rodney glancing a header over and Pritchard shooting into the arms of goalkeeper Ted Curd, but Boreham Wood doubled their lead in the 68th minute.
A corner fell to Abdulmalik at the back post, who showed composure before finishing into the far corner via a deflection.
McNulty made a triple substitution with 15 minutes remaining, with one of those, Tyler Smith, making a huge impact just two minutes later. Whatmuff played a long ball forward, with it falling for the Dale man, who finished calmly beyond Curd to bring Dale within one goal.
East and Dieseruvwe saw shots blocked as Dale threw everything forward in search of an equaliser that looked as though it wasn’t going to come.
However, as proven on many occasions throughout this season, this Dale team doesn’t give up.
In the 97th minute, substitute Casey Pettit, playing as last man, sent a ball into the area from deep, where Dieseruvwe leapt highest to head home and force extra time, to pandemonium in the Dale end.
Dale controlled much of the ball in the first half of extra time, although James Clarke’s shot over the bar produced the only effort of the first half.
Boreham Wood had more of the ball in the second half, but again neither side could test the opposition goalkeeper, although the ball did nearly fall for Dieseruvwe in the final minute of extra time, just getting away from him at the decisive moment.
To penalties it went, with Whatmuff saving Callum Reynolds’ penalty first up, before denying Rush with Boreham Wood’s third. Sam Beckwith, Ed Francis and Callum Perry all scored, with Cameron Coxe hitting the bar, sending Dale to the EFL in typically dramatic circumstances.
Dale XI | Whatmuff, Gordon, East (86’ Pettit), Ebanks-Landell ©, Gilmour (90’ Francis), Dieseruvwe, Rodney (75’ Smith), Hannant (75’ Henderson), Adebayo-Rowling (75’ Beckwith), Barlow (46’ Pritchard), Perry.
Unused subs | Baptiste.
Scorers | 78’ Smith, 90+7’ Dieseruvwe.
Boreham Wood XI | Curd, Ilesanmi (105’ Sousa), Bush, O’Connell, Brunt (90+1’ Landers), Abdulmalik (82’ Richardson), Ayinde (82’ Coxe), Clarke, White © (103’ Henry), Booty (70’ Reynolds), Rush.
Unused subs | Ashmore.
Scorers | 22’ Rush, 69’ Abdulmalik.
Attendance | 17,470.
