A tougher tie awaited in the third round, against fellow Second Division side Middlesbrough at Carrow Road, and for the third consecutive match Norwich ran out 3–2 winners.
Norwich were again 4–1 victors, leaving them with margin for error when the tie returned to Bloomfield Road five days later, when they lost 2–0, just scraping through as 4–3 aggregate winners.
Fourth Division Rochdale, on the other hand, had started out travelling away to The Dell to play Southampton, a tie in which a draw would be considered a great result for The Dale.
In the second round they played at home to fellow Fourth Division side Doncaster Rovers, who rarely challenged as Rochdale finished 4–0 winners.
The match ended 2–1 to The Dale, putting them into the semi-finals and earning them a lucrative two-legged tie against Blackburn Rovers, their first top division opponents.