Rochdale boss Keith Hill refused to point the finger at Tommy Lee after his blunder allowed Darlington to score a late winner in their 2-1 first leg play-off semi-final defeat.

Dale goalkeeper Lee, on loan from Macclesfield, raced off his line to meet Neil Wainwright's stoppage-time free-kick, but made a hash of his attempted gather and Ian Miller looped a header into the empty net.

Miller's last-gasp effort came after Dale striker Chris Dagnall had cancelled out Jason Kennedy's stunning first-half opener but boss Hill insists the tie is still wide open and jumped to the defence of Lee.

"I'm not despondent in any way, shape or form - it's still a tight game," Hill said. "It was a definite mistake by Tommy, but he's done really well for us since he's been on loan from Macclesfield."

"He [Miller] has scored, so it's job done. There's not an awful lot in it. One goal isn't much of a margin.

"To go to our place 2-1 down, I'm still encouraged. We're more than capable of scoring goals at our place."