Connor relives Rochdale's finest hour

Rochdale 2 Coventry City

Not only does history repeat itself; so, under the right circumstance, do fairytales.

Rochdale, a team worryingly close to the foot of the Third Division and in dreadful form, had spent most of the previous week reliving past glories, but surely it was expecting too much to match their 1971 third-round victory over Coventry, until yesterday the high point of the club's long struggle in the lower reaches.

Goals from their record signing, Paul Connor, and their captain, Gareth Griffiths, and an inspiring performance from their goalkeeper, Neil Edwards, ensured that they reached the fifth round of the FA Cup for only the second time in their history, and no one could argue that they did not deserve to be there.

On Tuesday, Rochdale's player-manager, Paul Simpson, was booed when he brought himself on in an abject loss to Lincoln. Yesterday, he went off after 73 minutes to the acclaim that was the polar opposite of that reception. By then, he had decisively won the midfield battle of the player-managers against Gary McAllister, and Rochdale's League form – no win since mid-December – was forgiven.

"It's a funny game, football, as someone said a long time ago," mused Simpson. "On Tuesday night we were booed off. Tonight they'll be celebrating all round Rochdale, and we thoroughly deserve it.''

Rochdale had already shown themselves capable of matching Coventry – sixth in the First Division – in all areas of the game long before they took the lead on 32 minutes. A tackle from Griffiths proved the turning point. He dispossessed the charging Muhamed Konjic, David Flitcroft threading the ball for Connor to clip past Morten Hylgaard inside the far post.

"I just stuck a leg out," said Griffiths modestly of his contribution. "It was a great ball from David that put him through. Konjic had left a space and nobody managed to fill the gap."

Griffiths played an even more direct role in the second goal, which came less than two minutes into the second half. Connor had gone close when Hylgaard deflected his shot into the side-netting, but from Simpson's precise corner the towering Griffiths outjumped everyone and powered in an unstoppable header.

That removed the pressure that Rochdale must have felt after taking their lead, with Dean Holdsworth and Gary McSheffery both going close before half-time.

Edwards' save from Mc-Sheffery was a sign of things to come. He is not the biggest of goalkeepers, but he grew into a more and more dominant figure in the Rochdale penalty area as the game went on. Poor as they were, Coventry were still in with a chance of salvaging the tie when he made excellent saves in quick succession from Richie Partridge and the substitute Calum Davenport.

McAllister's low drive, equally well dealt with by Edwards, was Coventry's final throw of the dice, and the manager had no complaints about the result but plenty about his side's performance.

"I'm very disappointed," he said. "We were big favourites today and the teams are divisions apart. People have been saying nice things about Coventry recently and now we have to stand here and face the music, because today we were found wanting."

McAllister said Rochdale had wanted the tie more than his team and that his professional pride as a player was hurt. "It's not just my lowest point as a manager, it's one of my lowest points as a player," he said. "It doesn't get much worse than this."

Simpson would now like a live TV match against a top side "and people throwing money at the club from all directions". If that sounds like a fairytale, then so did staging a repeat of 1971 for a sceptical modern audience.