Carlisle United 0 Rochdale 2: Having described the FA Cup as "something you can get your teeth into", Keith Curle's team failed to leave any bite-marks on Rochdale, and the League One club's ball drops into the third round pot tonight while Carlisle sift through a few lessons hopefully learned.

There was no shame in being outplayed, in the areas where it mattered, by a side at the north end of the division above. Aspects of Rochdale's performance showed United the standard they are aspiring to in their own promotion push.

The only lasting sting will be if Keith Hill's side land a whopper this evening. Curle could have used the cash, and the feel-good factor, that a major Premier League opponent might have brought.

Otherwise, this now needs to be treated as education for the Blues as they return to the regular business of the league (and the Checkatrade Trophy, which resumes with Mansfield's visit tomorrow night). They were certainly competitive against the men from Spotland but Hill's team, riding their luck with Steven Davies' deflected opening goal, were superior in the end.

United's march into the top three of League Two - they were knocked off the top by Doncaster on Saturday - has been an engaging tale so far in 2016/17. But Rochdale's bid for a place in the Championship is also an impressive yarn. Hill's team is stuffed with bright young players who, in Curle's words, can "manipulate the ball" to a consistently high standard.

Particularly in midfield, they gave Carlisle a level of difficulty they have seldom faced this season. Defensively, where Keith Keane's timing stood out, they were robust enough to limit the Blues in their most energetic spells.

Their movement around the penalty area was good enough to examine United several times and Joe Thompson was a durable performer on right and left against his former club - even if their clinching second goal, taken by Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, only arrived in the 93rd minute.

A first home defeat since April was duly executed by Rochdale's substitute. So another impressive Blues sequence has fallen. Now it drops to Curle and his players to retrieve the reasons why they made it to December before a visiting team left the city with a maximum return this campaign.

"Good teams don’t lose two on the bounce," agreed Danny Grainger. "We need to make sure we bounce back on Tuesday night." United's captain felt Carlisle were denied a "stonewall" penalty in the first half, when Niall Canavan "rugby-tackled" Michael Raynes, but did not pretend they had been good enough to unseat Rochdale overall.

In all, a stirring cup tie sometimes threatened to break out but didn't get the Carlisle goal that would have truly set it up. It could have come in an even and well-contested first half but the margins couldn’t quite be exploited by Curle's unchanged side. This was despite Charlie Wyke making a regular nuisance of himself against Canavan to the point where the visiting defender was subbed at half-time.

Battling with his back to goal, Wyke's industry led to an early free-kick from which Grainger tested keeper Conrad Logan. United's top scorer then failed by a fraction to convert an inswinging corner.

All very promising - but so were some of Rochdale's advances, Joe Rafferty making smooth progress into space from right-back and having a trio of shots blocked. Later, Callum Camps intercepted shrewdly in midfield and a resulting corner saw Mark Gillespie save bravely at Davies' feet.

Canavan put another good chance wide after United's keeper had pushed a cross his way. At the other end, Carlisle sometimes sprung the offside line to worry Rochdale but needed to be ultra-precise with their work around the box.

Instead, Jason Kennedy headed Reggie Lambe's cross over, Keane intercepted another Lambe delivery, Kennedy drifted offside as he hit the post, and then came that penalty shout, Raynes and much of the stadium upset that ref Mark Haywood deemed Canavan's grappling challenge fair.

At other times, Rochdale's pressing capitalised on some United errors. Raynes bailed out Mike Jones after the midfielder passed carelessly to Ian Henderson, and early in the second half the visitors recycled the ball well after a Jones clearance, resulting in Davies' turn outside the box and a shot that spun off Raynes and wrongfooted Gillespie.

Those Rochdale fans who arrived late after a coach breakdown will have been grateful their team saved their opener until then. Carlisle were glad, meanwhile, that Henderson was in a rather indecisive mood, delaying a couple of further chances until they had receded and defenders could get back.

Curle sent on Shaun Miller and Jamie Devitt at this point, and United's most urgent spell of attacking followed. Devitt's vision was crucial as he first picked out his fellow sub, who fired across goal via Logan's gloves, and then the Dubliner arrowed another diagonal ball to Wyke, who shot wide.

A couple of other crosses, Nicky Adams predictably involved, nearly fell for the Blues. But nearly wasn't going to conquer a smart opponent, and nor were the further scrambles Carlisle's set-pieces caused. Little else broke for Wyke, while United's desperation to keep at their visitors produced a couple more late mistakes, such as Tom Miller's turn into trouble at right-back, leading to a chance that Joe Bunney put wide by millimetres.

Bunney's replacement, Mendez-Laing, was more accurate in stoppage time: drilling inside the near post after a right-sided attack involving Oliver Rathbone. This ended a period of time-killing in the corners by Hill's side and at this point United had to accept that the real cup adventures were going to be enjoyed by other people this season.

Few tears will be shed about this come August if Carlisle are, by then, playing at Rochdale's level. From here, they perhaps know a little more about what it will take to get there.