FA Cup: Maidstone United 1 - 1 Rochdale

Maidstone United v Rochdale

Callum Camps earned Rochdale a replay in the FA Cup with the last kick of the game. The Dale skipper drilled a 20 yard free-kick into the bottom corner in the 94th minute to break the hearts of National League side Maidstone United.

Maidstone had earlier scored from the penalty spot after Niall Canavan was adjudged to have tripped Jamar Loza inside the area, Bobby-Joe Taylor clinically dispatching the spot kick.

The slender lead looked to be enough to earn the part-timers a passage through to round two until Camps’ late, late strike.

With injuries, ineligibility and suspension reeking havoc with the Dale squad, Keith Hill made two changes for this FA Cup first round tie at Maidstone, a game made even more intriguing with the Gallagher Stadium playing surface being artificial.

Dale really struggled to get to grips with the pace of Maidstone striker Jamar Loza who caused problems throughout and it was his pace that earned the penalty to give Maidstone the lead. Loza raced away from Camps and McGahey as Maidstone hit Dale on the counter attack. With the diminutive striker bearing down on goal, Canavan lunged in after making up good ground but his tackle was slightly late and referee Breakspear showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Winger Bobby-Joe Taylor stepped up to rifle the ball past Lillis.

Maidstone saw plenty of the ball but couldn’t trouble Lillis and it was Dale who next saw the ball in the net, an assistant's flag cutting short the celebrations. Matt Lund's shot hit Joe Rafferty, who was in an offside position, before the ball fell at the feet of Steven Davies who knocked the ball into the roof of the net, but the flag chalked off his effort.

As the half drew to a close, Maidstone looked to increase their lead. Loza again used his pace to turn Rafferty before firing a low shot that Lillis was equal to.

With Keith Hill’s half time team talk still ringing in their ears, Rochdale started the second half on the front foot and almost equalised 90 seconds after the restart. A neat flick by Mendez-Laing picked out Rathbone but his effort was blocked by the outstretched leg of Worgan in the Maidstone goal.

Davies thought he had got his name legitimately on the scoresheet when he met a Cannon centre but his header looped just over.

Maidstone had a couple of shots from goal that flashed over with Lillis seemingly having his angles covered.

With the clock ticking down, Cannon was upended on the edge of the area three and a half minutes into stoppage time, much to the annoyance of the Maidstone players.

Once all the arguing had settled down, captain Callum Camps drilled an unstoppable free-kick into the bottom right hand corner leaving the Maidstone players distraught and facing a long journey to the North West on a Tuesday evening in 10 days time.

There was drama after the full time whistle when defender Kevin Lokko was shown a second yellow card for confronting the officials.

It was a lucky escape for Dale who will have another chance to reach the second round with the replay at The Crown Oil Arena.

Rochdale: Lillis, Rafferty, McGahey, Canavan, Bunney, Camps (c), Lund (McNulty 64), Rathbone (McDermott 64), Cannon, Mendez-Laing (Noble-Lazarus 86), Davies.
Subs: (not used) Logan, Tanser, Morley, Gillam

Maidstone: Worgan (c), Twumasi, Lokko, Acheampong, Mills, Rogers, Paxman, Flisher, Taylor, Enver-Marum (Odubade 85), Loza (Sweeney 82).
Subs: (not used) Coyle, Evans, Bridle-Card, Murphy, Greenalgh

Referee: Mr C Breakspear
Assistants: Mr R Smith and Mr A Aylott
Fourth Official: Mr R Hyde

Attendance: 2,227