Rochdale 1-1 Notts County: Kyle Wootton earns replay for National League side
- Published
Kyle Wootton has seven goals in 15 appearances for the magpies this season
Kyle Wootton headed Notts County's second-half equaliser to earn the National League side a first-round replay against Rochdale.
Corey O'Keefe put the League Two hosts ahead just before half-time, rifling in after County failed to clear Abraham Odoh's corner.
But Wootton glanced in a near-post header to level on the hour and Dale were unable to conjure up a response.
The sides will meet again at Meadow Lane on Tuesday, 16 November.
County held their own for most of the first half and should have gone in front when a Ruben Rodrigues cross picked out Wootton, only for the centre-forward to head wide.
Dale's best moments came from the dangerous Odoh, who cut inside to curl a shot beyond the post, while O'Keefe twice went close before firing into the roof of the net to break the deadlock.
The home side should have extended their advantage after the resumption as Magpies goalkeeper Anthony Patterson denied Jake Beesley with his legs.
But County substitute Aaron Nemane made an immediate impact, winning the corner from which Wootton climbed highest to glance the equaliser beyond Jay Lynch.
Rochdale manager Robbie Stockdale told BBC Radio Manchester:
"We score a goal on the brink of half-time and you hope to kick on and get a bit of momentum. You know they're going to throw a lot of things at us to equalise and when they did it became a little bit edgy, I guess.
"The chances we did have - on those opportunities we could easily be sat here saying we didn't play very well but we're through to the next round.
"As it is, we didn't play very well, but we're still in the hat. If we can't win, don't lose.
"Give the opposition credit for stopping us with a mid to deep block. They're a good team and they'll be pushing to get back into the league, there's no doubt about that."
Notts County head coach Ian Burchnall:
"I felt a little disappointed we didn't really kick on after we scored the equaliser. We had a period of 15 minutes where I really thought we were on top.
"It was a fairly balanced game, with two teams that wanted to play and I really enjoyed what we did. We came out second half and really attacked the game.
"They shift it well and gave us some problems we don't face every week, which is great.
"They locked on and pressed us really high but we didn't give it up, we didn't get fazed, and on the whole I felt we played some really nice stuff."