Rochdale booked their place in Round Two of the Carabao Cup with a resounding 2-0 win over Burton Albion at the Crown Oil Arena.
Late goals from James Ball and Devante Rodney sealed the deserved victory.
There were five changes from the weekend, with Cieran Slicker, Ben Nelson, Abraham Odoh, Tyrese Sinclair and Rayhaan Tulloch coming into the side for Richard O’Donnell, Sam Graham, Aidy White, Ethan Brierley and Ian Henderson.
The visitors forced the first save of the game, when Slicker got down to turn Davis Keillor-Dunn’s low shot behind.
Despite the early Brewers chance, the opening exchanges were fairly even, but Rochdale began to control proceedings midway through the half and had a number of opportunities to deservedly take the lead.
Femi Seriki made a run into the area before seeing a powerful shot deflected narrowly wide of the upright. Abraham Odoh then had an effort charged down on the edge of the area, before Devante Rodney and Tyrese Sinclair both had chances.
Sinclair worked hard to close down an attempted Brewers clearance and sent the ball into the area for Rodney, who saw his effort defended behind. Dale played the resulting corner short and Sinclair struck across goal and inches past the post, in a similar fashion to Seriki’s earlier strike.
Soon after, Rochdale came close again as Rodney sent a ferocious shot from 35-yards just over the bar.
A couple of minutes after the break, Rodney tried his luck from an acute angle after getting in on the left, but his effort was deflected behind for a corner.
The best chance of the game so far fell to the forward in the 54th minute when he got through one-on-one with Viljami Sinisalo, but after the goalkeeper came out to close him down, Rodney was denied.
Moments later, a Rochdale corner was cleared as far as Tulloch who had a shot blocked by a Burton Albion player. There were shouts for a handball, but the referee waved away the appeals.
Slicker’s evening was cut short and he had to be replaced after taking an earlier knock, being replaced by O’Donnell in the 67th minute.
Dale continued to dominate and Rodney turned Seriki’s cross in from the left over the bar, while Sinclair ran onto Ethan Ebanks-Landell’s ball over the top and fired over the bar from a tight angle.
Rochdale broke the deadlock in the 86th minute. After Abraham Odoh was tripped inside the area, Ball stepped up to take the resulting spot-kick and smashed his penalty beyond Sinisalo.
A second substitution followed, soon after, with Ian Henderson replacing Sinclair.
Dale wrapped the game up in stoppage time when Rodney deservedly got his goal. He picked the ball up in his own half after a throw was cleared, and he powered away from the defence and slotted into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
The draw for Round Two of the Carabao Cup takes place on Wednesday evening, live on Sky Sports following the conclusion of Sheffield Wednesday v Sunderland AFC.