Forest Green Rovers 2 Rochdale 0: Jonathan Smith set Forest Green Rovers on their way to a dream FA Cup third-round tie with Derby County and then revealed how illness had threatened to turn his day into a nightmare.

The former Morecambe midfielder’s participation had been in doubt until the warm-up at the New Lawn.

But Smith chose to play through the pain and was rewarded with what he admitted was the biggest goal of his career.

Josh Low grabbed a sublime second after half-time as the Blue Square Premier side made surprisingly comfortable progress against the League Two high-fliers.

Smith said: “I woke up on Saturday morning feeling very unwell with headaches and stomach-aches and I felt very dreary. I came down and spoke to the gaffer (Jim Harvey) because I didn’t want to miss out.

“I gave it a go in the warm-up and I felt a bit sharper and I thought ‘I can do this‘, so I carried on. The goal gives you a lot of confidence and you forget about the illness and you play your game.

“It is probably the biggest goal of my career and we have got a big third-round tie to look forward to now, and I can’t wait for that either.”

Smith’s 27th-minute goal summed up the way Forest Green tried to pass the ball intelligently. A neat move from a throw-in saw left-back Paul Stonehouse play in a ball which Low dummied for Smith to run on to before slotting home a low effort.

Smith said: “I made one of my late runs, it was a good ball by Stonie and a dummy by Josh and I finished it in the corner. We had three or four chances to kill them off but we got in at half-time and the gaffer said ‘this is the way we have got to go’, and it worked.”

Harvey’s men could have been ahead straight from the kick-off. Perhaps Dale were shocked to see a side eschew the normal policy of launching the ball out of play for a throw-in from the restart.

Instead a run and pass from Simon Clist released Andy Mangan, who went around goalkeeper Sam Russell but hesitated and could not get a shot in.

Clist, the former Tottenham and Bristol City midfielder, was employed in a role behind Mangan, where he demonstrated his undoubted skill on the ball on several occasions.

Sharper finishing from seven-goal top scorer Mangan could have made the game safe before the break. Russell saved at his feet after a Low through ball before Mangan created a golden chance for himself.

The former Bury and Accrington frontrunner won a shoulder charge with Marcus Holness on the touchline but was again reluctant to shoot from a narrow angle with only the keeper to beat. When Mangan eventually did try his luck Rory McArdle got back to block.

After the break Mangan planted a free header wide from Jerry Gill’s right-wing cross before the Forest Green player-coach’s attempted cross sailed over the keeper and only just cleared the bar.

Rochdale threatened from a corner when Lee Thorpe’s glancing header was cleared off the line by Stonehouse.

Almost immediately the hosts went up the other end and Lee Fowler released on-loan Cheltenham midfielder Low, who lifted the ball coolly over Russell.

Rovers almost got a third but Russell parried a Mangan header from a Low centre before the home side were grateful for a linesman’s flag. Adam Le Fondre had the ball in the net for Dale on 66 minutes but the assistant referee had already highlighted a foul on Stonehouse.

Thorpe and Mark Jones came close to pulling one back but the Conference side were relatively untroubled.

The result came as no surprise to Harvey even though his side currently sit fourth from bottom of the Conference.

“Andy Mangan must have had three or four really good goalscoring chances,” he said. “Our keeper hasn’t really had much to do. There was a bit of pressure straight after half-time, when they had four or five corner kicks on the bounce but after that we defended extremely well.

“For most of this season we have averaged about six injuries per game. If I can get enough of the first eleven out playing then we are a handful for any side.

“What you are going to see more and more is the teams in the Conference beating Football League sides because I don’t believe there is much between the first or second division.”

Harvey is no stranger to reaching the third round.

“At Morecambe we had a couple of games against Ipswich in the third round,” he recalled. “We had a successful time there and we are just repeating that now. But with Forest Green this is a bit of history, because they have never been to the third round before, and I do think with the budget and the resources we have it is a terrific achievement for the club.

“At our level we are only a small club so anything we can generate through cup successes and gates is going to be very welcome.”

Forest Green (4-4-1-1): Burton; Gill, Jones, Kempson, Stonehouse; Low (Thomas 83), Smith (Rigoglioso 90), Fowler, Platt; Clist; Mangan (Mohamed 73). Subs not used: Robinson, Afful, Preece, McDonald.

Rochdale (4-4-2): Russell; Ramsden, Holness, McArdle, Kennedy; Higginbottom (Shaw 46), Keltie, Toner, Buckley (Jones 64); Thorpe, Le Fondre. Subs not used: Stanton, Thompson, Rundle, D‘Laryea, Spencer.