The Lancashire outfit have not won a promotion since 1969 and have been in the bottom tier of English football since 1974 - the longest unbroken run in the basement division of the Football League.

Hill is sick of hearing about the club's inglorious past and has urged his talented young side to seize the moment when they head to Wembley.

Birthday-boy Hill - who turned 39 today - headed straight to Edgeley Park to watch Stockport and Wycombe battle it out for the right to face Rochdale in the play-off final.

"We're here to make history - I'm sick of hearing about the history of the football club and what we haven't done," said an emotionally-drained Hill.

"We talk about making our own history and creating history for other people to talk about.

"History doesn't interest me - I did it at school and I used to fall asleep.

"This club shouldn't be seen as a small club.

"We are nurturing a very good young squad here and we want to be successful.

"That's how ambitious the players and the coaching staff are.

"We want to be ambitious and we want to get into League One. That's our aim now."

Clarke Keltie's controversial 28th-minute penalty put Darlington 3-1 ahead on aggregate but Rochdale showed tremendous spirit to fashion an impressive comeback.

They scored shortly before half-time through Chris Dagnall and a deflected strike from David Perkins - who was later sent off in extra-time - fired them 2-1 ahead to level the tie at 3-3 with 12 minutes of normal time remaining.

That ensured 30 minutes of extra-time and after the sides could not be separated the tie was decided by penalties.

Both sides converted their first four spot-kicks and after Rochdale goalkeeper Tommy Lee saved Jason Kennedy's effort, Ben Muirhead stepped up to claim the winning penalty.

Rochdale's long-suffering fans were ecstatic and invaded the pitch in their thousands as the dream of finally breaking out of the bottom tier of English football moved a huge step closer to reality.

Hill - who confirmed he will appeal Perkins' red card - added: "I will be celebrating quietly tonight - I'm 39 not 29.

"If I was 29 I'd be out on the lash like everybody else.

"I'll probably watch Match of the Day if it's on, and get on the websites to see what everyone is saying."

Darlington boss Dave Penney summed up his feelings afterwards as he digested the pain of a penalty shoot-out defeat.

A philosophical Penney said: "That's life. It's a fine line and they were better than us just because they scored more penalties than us.

"We've had a good season and we just couldn't finish it off.

"We put ourselves to be in a position to challenge the top three.

"Obviously, with the injuries and other things, we couldn't quite get there."

ends