York had enjoyed all the clear-cut chances in the game, with Dale having goalkeeper Oliver Whatmuff to thank for a series of good saves.<\/p>\n
Rochdale started well and they thought they had taken a lead in the eighth minute. Dan Moss rose to meet a cross from the right and both the ball and York goalkeeper Harrison Male were bundled into the back of the net. But referee Will Finnie blew for a foul.<\/p>\n
It took 14 minutes for the first effort on goal. Rochdale’s Luke Hannant curled a right-footed effort well wide of the target from inside the D.<\/p>\n
York won a free-kick in the 37th minute after Whatmuff had handled outside the area. Ben Brookes chose to shoot from a tight angle and his wild effort drew cheers from the home fans.<\/p>\n
The first real chance came three minutes after half-time when Hiram Boateng sent Stones through, but he could only shoot straight at Whatmuff from an angle.<\/p>\n
Immediately afterwards, Dale’s Moss flashed a shot just wide of the target.<\/p>\n
York began to look dangerous on the break as Boateng again sent Stones in on goal but once more he could only find the goalkeeper.<\/p>\n
Rochdale were awarded a free-kick just outside the box in the 72nd minute when Dieseruvwe was barged over. Substitute Aidan Barlow took on the responsibility but could only lift his effort over the bar.<\/p>\n
As time ticked away, Ollie Pearce, who stole the ball off Ethan Ebanks-Landell, fed in Stones who saw his deflected effort brilliantly clawed away by Whatmuff.<\/p>\n
There was a sniff of a chance for Dale as Dieseruvwe tried to get on the end of a cross from the left, but it was just too high for the striker to reach.<\/p>\n
York should have ended any lingering nerves in the 90th minute, but Greg Olley saw his effort saved by Whatmuff from point-blank range.<\/p>\n
Two minutes into added time, Rochdale almost got the goal they so desperately needed. A corner was delivered from the left and York’s Callum Howe saw his header crash back off his own crossbar.<\/p>\n
Then came the incredible stoppage-time drama.<\/p>\n
York City had spent 10 years outside the Football League, including five seasons in the National League North. Now they are back.<\/p>\n
Rochdale must now pick themselves up and try again in the play-offs. Dale will be back at the Crown Oil Arena for a home semi-final a week on Sunday against Scunthorpe or Southend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"York had enjoyed all the clear-cut chances in the game, with Dale having goalkeeper Oliver Whatmuff to thank…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-550135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}