ROCHDALE, England -- Cambridge United took a sip against Manchester United, while Middlesbrough took a gulp vs. Manchester City and, by vanquishing Chelsea, Bradford tried to down the whole thing in one.
By the time the FA Cup fourth round came around to League One side Rochdale on Monday night, there was no magic potion left. Stoke City, determined and resolved, broke them down and finished them with an emphatic 4-1 win.
The result was not entirely unexpected. Small teams tend to have two major advantages over big teams on nights like this. Firstly, their home support is invigorated by the prospect of turning over a Premier League side and, secondly, their players will fight harder and nastier to make it so.
But this was Stoke. You don't out-Stoke Stoke and, from the sound of their supporters massed along one side of the Spotland stadium, you don't out-sing them either.
And yet Rochdale did not come away from this encounter empty-handed. Keith Hill's side are no lower league cloggers. They were hard and competed for every ball but they played football too. Behind the midfield, refitted former right-back Rhys Bennett worked diligently to orchestrate intelligent passing moves. There are good reasons why Rochdale are well set for a play-off challenge. And this in itself is a very odd thing.
A life spent supporting your local team is supposed to be a life of ups and downs. But if you were a Rochdale fan between 1974 and 2010, that would not have been accurate. For 36 years, the "Dale" never left the fourth tier of the English game. No promotion. No relegation.
Over the years, a series of increasingly preposterous rebrands meant that they could say they had played in the Fourth Division, Division Three and League Two, but it all meant the same: The bottom.
A boomtown during the industrial revolution in the 19th century, Rochdale has fallen on harder times since, a fate it shares with so many former textile powerhouses in the north of the country. In 2012, local MP Simon Danczuk accused the government of "failing" the town after unemployment rates soared in the wake of public sector cuts.
A BBC report suggested that Rochdale was avoided on Luftwaffe bombing runs during the Second World War because Adolf Hitler was such a fan of its Victorian Gothic town hall.
Rochdale made the news in 2010, ahead of the UK general election, when Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited the town and was taken to task by a local woman. Gillian Duffy was angry about immigration in the UK and, having dealt admirably with the situation, Brown was ushered into his car to be driven to his next engagement.
Unfortunately for Brown, his microphone was still on and he said of Duffy that "she's just a sort of bigoted woman." He was forced into an apology and did not win the election
Still, at least Rochdale's own politicians are positive. Local councillor Karen Danczuk, wife of the aforementioned Labour MP, sent a good luck message to the team that demonstrated why she's known as "Queen of the Selfie."
On the pitch, at least, Rochdale's fortunes began to change in 2006 when Hill arrived as manager. A player at Spotland for five years between 1996 and 2001, he had been the director of youth until the sacking of Steve Parkin saw him promoted to the top job and, having been battling relegation, Rochdale clawed their way to mid-table safety.
In his first full season, Hill took the club to the playoffs, only to lose at Wembley to Stockport. The next season, they reached the playoffs again, but lost at the semifinal stage. Finally, in 2010, Hill delivered Rochdale to the third flight, skipping the playoffs and proceeding straight up with automatic promotion.
But Hill would leave in 2011 for Championship side Barnsley and, without him, Rochdale were relegated. Hill fared little better than his former club and returned for a joyous reunion in 2013. Naturally, Rochdale were promoted again the following year.
Now, they are sixth -- a playoff spot -- in League One, 10 points adrift of fourth but only four points clear of 14th. With one of the best away records in the division, but only four wins from 13 at home, hope was in limited supply before the Stoke match in The Baum, an award-winning Rochdale pub.
"I'm not nervous," said a middle-aged man at the bar whose twitching suggested otherwise. "No, I'm not nervous. I mean, they're Premier League, so what chance have we got, eh?"
Outside the ground, confidence was a little higher. Young Ewan Brown even fancied his team's chances of victory.
"I'm confident tonight," he said. "We've had decent results recently, we beat Crawley 4-1 last week, so confidence is up. It's great to see a team like Stoke at Rochdale, but I think we can do it."
His father Ross was rather more philosophical about the whole experience.
"It's always been frustrating in the past," he said. "We never went up and never went down, but nights like this are the reward. It's what you hope for, a game against the big teams."
The night might not have got underway at all had it not been for the supporters. In the days before the game, snow covered the playing surface and an official call for volunteers was heeded by the local townsfolk, who duly cleared the pitch in time for kickoff. The white stuff was still there though, lurking in mud-stained lumps in the car park.
Inside, what Rochdale might lack in past glories, they make up for with their record collection. Unlike most English pre-match DJs who blast the crowds with the sort of music you'd hear from an nine-year-old girl's bedroom, Rochdale's served up a playlist full of crunching guitars, much loved B-sides and new tunes so good that it seemed something of a shame when the football started.
Hill stuck with the same Rochdale side that beat Crawley in their previous fixture, but they were rocked back on their heels after just four minutes when Stoke's Bojan Krkic caught a clearance on the volley from 25 yards out and sent it screaming into the top corner with his left foot.
There was no blame to be apportioned; it was the sort of goal that any team could concede. The celebrating Stoke fans responded with a chorus of "Delilah" that shook the fillings in the teeth of anyone in earshot.
But Rochdale were not going to give up easily. They flew into tackles, while resisting the temptation to revert to long balls, a wise choice given the presence of Ryan Shawcross in the centre of the visitors' defence.
Midway through the first half, Peter Vincenti crashed into Victor Moses and left him strewn on the cold turf. The Stoke bench were furious but referee Martin Atkinson allowed play to continue. Bojan, of all people, came to seek retribution and a scuffle broke out.
Impressively, the 5-foot-8 Spaniard squared up to the far taller Vincenti before order was restored, only to rather spoil the effect by running off to the fourth official to tell tales on his opponent. The home fans were furious.
Sixty seconds later, the former Barcelona player darted into the area, fell to the ground and was withdrawn in obvious distress, limping off the pitch to a crescendo of abuse from the locals. The next day it was revealed that Bojan's season had been brought to a premature end, with a knee ligament injury the cause.
Rochdale grew in strength and might have equalised when striker Matthew Done zipped between Stoke's centre-backs only to poke the ball wide and the half ended with Callum Camps testing Jack Butland with a low, long-range effort.
Alas, the hope that the home side took down the tunnel at the break was snuffed out with minutes of the restart. Moses tore down the left flank and cut the ball back for Bojan's replacement Steven Ireland, who made no mistake.
On the hour, Moses went roaring down the left again but opted this time to finish the job himself, whipping the ball into the top corner from a preposterously tight angle. Stoic to the last, the Rochdale fans began to look ahead to the weekend.
"Que sara sara," they sang. "Whatever will be, will be. We're going to Coventry." And indeed they are.
Rochdale were eventually rewarded for their efforts. With 12 minutes to go Bennett, so impressive in the middle, put the ball away from close range after Stoke had given away a silly free kick. But far from sparking a comeback, it only refocused the Premier League players and, as injury time ticked away, Marko Arnautovic sprinted clear of tired legs on the right, swung in a deep cross and Jon Walters was there to wrap the game up.
Stoke boss Mark Hughes was quick to praise Rochdale after the game, highlighting their effort and application. Standing on the touchline surrounded by shivering journalists, he admitted that his team had found the first half very difficult.
There was never any question that Stoke would take the game seriously. Hughes had named a strong side for both this and the third round clash against Wrexham but he acknowledged that the upsets of the weekend had made him doubly keen to avoid embarrassment.
With so many major clubs out and a winnable trip to inconsistent Blackburn Rovers -- a club at which Hughes played and managed -- scheduled for the fifth round, the Stoke manager will know that the 2011 finalists now have every chance of going all the way in this competition.
For Rochdale, that distant dream is over. Their season, however, is not. With a place in the playoffs up for grabs, there's a realistic chance that they could break into the second flight for the first time in their history.
And in a cup tie like this, the real success for the smaller clubs comes in converting the occasional or first time supporter into a loyal follower. Rochdale will travel to Coventry on Saturday. Perhaps a few new faces will travel with them.
