The Youth Team exited the Lancashire FA Professional Youth Cup after a penalty shootout defeat to Accrington Stanley.
Fabio Tavares gave Dale an early lead, but Stanley levelled matters just six minutes later.
Neither side could find the winning goal, and the match went to a penalty shootout, in which the home side triumphed 4-3.
Chris Brown’s side created their first chance inside the opening minute. Luke Matherson’s ball into the area was cleared only as far as Florent Hoti, whose shot was deflected over.
The home side struck the woodwork two minutes later, when a shot from a tight angle struck the inside of the near post, before being cleared behind.
From the resulting corner, Brad Wade beat away a header before collecting it at the second attempt.
In the ninth minute Dale took the lead. Their pressing paid dividends as Tavares dispossessed the goalkeeper, before laying off to Aaron Morley whose shot was blocked. It fell for Tavares though, who seized upon the chance to turn home from a couple of yards.
The lead didn’t last long though, as the hosts equalised with their next attack. A nicely weighted through ball saw the Stanley striker beat Wade to it, taking the ball past the Dale stopper before putting the ball into the empty net.
Dale dominated possession through the game but couldn’t create a clear cut chance before the break.
The game opened up slightly in the second period, with Tavares finding the side netting from a tight angle just after the break.
Lewis Bradley saw a shot from inside the area saved, after Kuemo had cut inside the area before being challenged.
Harrison Hopper fired well over from distance, shortly before he and Louis White were replaced by James Neild and Juwon Hamzat.
Hoti saw an effort from distance turned around the post, before Kuemo’s header from Morley’s deep cross was well saved.
Wade made a flying save to his left to deny a rare Stanley shot, before Bradley and Hoti both had half chances off target.
Elliott Murray replaced Kuemo with five minutes remaining, but Dale couldn’t make their possession count and the game went to penalties.
Neild and Murray both missed from the spot for Dale which saw them trail 3-1 after three penalties each.
Wade made a save to keep Dale in it, but he couldn’t keep out Stanley’s final penalty, which saw them run take the shootout victory and progress to the next round.