Luke Hannant put Dale ahead early on, but the hosts equalised from the penalty spot in the final 15 minutes.
With the tie needing to be decided on the day, it progressed to extra time, when an 111th minute strike from Baba Adeeko ultimately sealed Dale’s place in Monday night’s draw.
Ian Watson made three changes from the team that started our previous league match at Port Vale. Tobi Adebayo-Rowling returned from injury, and Jamie Paterson made his second start for the Club. Luke Hannant also returned, as Cian Hayes and Baba Adeeko dropped to the bench, with Sam Sherring and Sam Beckwith missing through injury. However, there was far better news on the injury front, with Ryan East and Casey Pettit returning to the matchday squad.
An even opening saw Zain Silcott-Duberry have a shot blocked, whilst Ronan Coughlan headed straight at Sam Waller and sent another effort over for the hosts.
The opening goal came midway through the first period, with Hannant netting his second of the campaign. Charlie Tasker made a late forward run, receiving the ball from Glenn Middleton. The full-back sent a low ball into the middle, where Hannant got across the defence to the front post and cushioned a side-footed effort home.
Fleetwood saw more of the ball after Dale’s goal, but without threatening goalkeeper Sam Waller too much. Aaron Loupalo-Bi, scorer in the Cod Army’s dramatic Carabao Cup tie against Arsenal, had a couple of efforts well blocked by the Dale defence.
Coughlan and Lewis McCann both hit efforts off target, but the final chance of the half did come Dale’s way, when Dajaune Brown headed on target from Harvey Gilmour’s delightful clip over the defence, but Jay Lynch was there to hold.
After the break, Dale felt they had a case for a penalty when Brown was pulled to ground as he attempted to get on the end of a Tasker cross, but the referee waved away the appeals.
There was a long stoppage in play when one of the assistant referees was forced off through injury after a heavy collision, which took away the rhythm of the game for a spell.
As the tie entered the final 20 minutes, the hosts turned up the pressure on Dale and won a penalty when Kaiden Wilson was adjudged to have brought down Loupalo-Bi in the area. Coughlan stepped up and converted for the equaliser.
Fleetwood substitute Shaun Rooney fired a shot over from inside the area, and Loupalo-Bi headed wide from close range, as the clock ticked towards 90.
Dale had a goal ruled out with two minutes remaining, when Brown netted after receiving a through ball from half-time substitute Bryant Bilongo, but he was in an offside position.
Dale looked the more likely to score a second in the ten minutes of added time, with Bilongo forcing an effort goalwards after a Middleton corner had dropped to him via Aden Flint’s header.
Coughlan glanced a header wide for Fleetwood with the last chance of the 90 minutes, meaning an extra 30 would be needed to try and find a winner.
Bilongo forced another effort goalwards from Tasker’s delivery, and Waller made a strong one-on-one stop to deny Will Davies at the other end in the first period of extra time.
After the break, Waller fisted away Danny Andrew’s powerful free-kick which was heading for the top corner, but it was Dale who found the next goal.
Cian Hayes saw a shot blocked but kept the move alive, clipping a ball back into the middle. Brown saw another effort blocked, but it fell to Adeeko on the edge of the area, who found the bottom corner.
Hayes came within inches of adding another moments later. After a neat interchange with Ryan East, making his first appearance since August, Hayes clipped an effort onto the roof of the net when one-on-one with Lynch.
Club captain Ebanks-Landell made his return from injury late on, and despite late pressure from Fleetwood, Dale held on to advance to the second round of the competition.
Fleetwood Town XI | Lynch, Neal ©, Potter, Bennett, Cannon (68’ Helm), McCann (68’ Rooney), Haughey, Coughlan (109’ Thomas), Loupalo-Bi (90+7’ Davies), Batty (68’ Andrew), McLean.
Unused subs | Pradic, Murphy, Robertson, Cirino.
Scorers | 75’ Coughlan (p).
Dale XI | Waller, Tasker, Wilson, Gilmour © (84’ Adeeko), Silcott-Duberry (90+7’ East), Adebayo-Rowling (46’ Bilongo), Hannant (84’ Hayes), Paterson (46’ Francis), Brown, Flint, Middleton (117’ Ebanks-Landell).
Unused subs | Spaven, Pettit, Henderson.
Scorers | 23’ Hannant, 111’ Adeeko.
Attendance | 2,026 (673 away).
