He then passed to Dickinson who struck the ball past the Rochdale goalkeeper Tommy Lee to make it 3–1 in the 67th minute.

In Rochdale's next season, they finished in sixth position and qualified for the 2009 Football League play-offs where they lost 2–1 on aggregate to Gillingham in the semi-final.

[9] After the game Rochdale failed in an appeal against the red card given to Perkins and he was subsequently unavailable for selection for the final.

[12] In the meetings between the sides during the regular season, Stockport County won both matches: a 2–1 victory at Spotland in November 2007 was followed by a 2–0 win at Edgeley Park the next March.

Midway through the first half, a Chris Dagnall strike from distance took a deflection and passed just wide of the Stockport County goal.

From the ensuing corner, Rory McArdle headed the ball in from close range at the near post to make it 1–0 to Rochdale in the 24th minute.

In the 34th minute, Tommy Rowe played in a cross from a short corner which Nathan Stanton diverted into his own net for an own goal, to level the score and the sides went in at half-time at 1–1.

[19] Rochdale made one change to their side during the interval, with Ben Muirhead coming on to replace Kallum Higginbotham.

Four minutes into the second half, Stockport County took the lead once again when Pilkington headed Michael Rose's cross in from around 12 yards (11 m) after it had bounced off the ground.

Midway through the second half, Pilkington passed to Dickinson who had managed to evade his marker and struck the ball past the Rochdale goalkeeper Tommy Lee to make it 3–1.

[21] In Rochdale's next season, they finished in sixth position and qualified for the 2009 Football League play-offs where they lost 2–1 on aggregate to Gillingham in the semi-final.