Ryan East and Zain Silcott-Duberry twice levelled matters for Ian Watson’s men, before six of the nine penalties taken in the shootout weren’t converted.
Dale came out on top though, winning 2-1 to set up a tie at Bradford City next weekend.
Nils Ramming made his Dale debut in goal, after spending the last two weeks with his parent club Brighton & Hove Albion. There was another debut in defence, with Sam Sherring partnering Ethan Ebanks-Landell at the back. Tobi Adebayo-Rowling and Bryant Bilongo were the full-backs, with Cian Hayes, making a third Dale debut, and Luke Hannant ahead of them. Ed Francis and Ryan East partnered in the middle, with Harvey Gilmour supporting Mani Dieseruvwe up top.
It was a far from ideal start to the campaign for Dale, who fell behind inside five minutes, when Charlie Whitaker clipped the ball over Ramming one-on-one.
However, Dale responded superbly. Hayes stooped to head over Hannant’s cross just 60 seconds later, before the equaliser came in the 11th minute.
After a good spell of possession, Ebanks-Landell found Adebayo-Rowling on the right, whose cross was headed down by Dieseruvwe. It fell centrally where East strode on to it and smashed into the roof of the net.
Watson’s men were seeing plenty of the ball, although Ramming had to be alert to turn Jordan Davies’ long-range strike over the bar.
Hayes felt he should have been awarded a penalty when we went down under a challenge after driving into the right side of the area, before Hannant hit an outside-of-the-boot effort wide after neat interplay with Dieseruvwe on the edge of the area.
Whitaker, Nathan Smith and Tom Conlon all sent efforts off target for the hosts, before Ramming comfortably held Davies’ free-kick from range.
After the break, Hannant volleyed over after a corner had been partially cleared, before the hosts retook the lead on the hour mark, when Davies took a shot on from a difficult height and produced a fine finish into the far bottom corner.
Neither side created much in the second-half, but Dale were able to drag themselves level with five minutes left of normal time.
East’s corner dropped to the back-post, where substitute Silcott-Duberry side-footed an effort in off the underside of the bar.
In nine minutes of added time, Ramming held Zane Okoro’s mishit shot comfortably, before making a fine fingertip save from Davies, to turn his effort round the post.
From the resulting corner, Jacob Slater hit a half-volley narrowly off target, as the game finished level and went straight to penalties.
Dale fell behind in the shootout, but the hosts were only able to convert the first of their five penalties, with Nils Ramming making two fine saves. Francis and Silcott-Duberry netted their spot kicks, and when Courtney Baker-Richardson put his penalty over the bar, Dale’s passage through to Round One was confirmed.
Tranmere Rovers XI | Male, Senior, Slater, Turnbull (76’ Faulkner), Smith, Whitaker, Finley (61’ Okoro), Ironside (71’ Baker-Richardson), Conlon (61’ Ince), Davies, O’Connor (71’ Warrington).
Unused subs | Scott, Veevers, Brough, Mann.
Goals | 5’ Whitaker, 60’ Davies.
Dale XI | Ramming, East, Ebanks-Landell ©, Hayes (64’ Silcott-Duberry), Gilmour (72’ Pettit (90+1’ Bradley), Dieseruvwe, Adebayo-Rowling, Francis, Hannant (72’ Rodney), Sherring (64’ Moss), Bilongo.
Unused subs | Spaven, Waller.
Goals | 11’ East, 85’ Silcott-Duberry.
