But Dale sub Tyler Smith kept his cool less than three minutes after coming on to tuck home when a mighty clearance kick from Whatmuff broke to him on the edge of the box.
Past the allotted six minutes of added time after a raft of substitutions, a deep cross from the right from sub Pettit was met by Dieseruvwe whose powerful header flicked off a defender and past Curd to take the roof off the east end of Wembley.
The goal was his fifth against Wood this season and the third he had scored in stoppage time in the past four games, following the winner at Braintree to keep their title hopes alive and that goal against York which almost took them up automatically and sparked the now-infamous pitch invasion.
It was the sixth straight year the National League promotion final had gone to extra-time, and the third time Wood had gone to the added period inside a fortnight, after beating Forest Green and Carlisle over 120 minutes in the previous rounds of the play-offs.
The added period did not have the same drama and penalties felt likely with Wood having replaced the majority of their key men during the final 25 minutes of normal time.
Wood came closest with just over five minutes remaining when a header from sub Josh Landers from a dinked cross was sent straight at Whatmuff from six yards out.
In the shootout, Whatmuff dived to his right to keep out Reynolds' low spot-kick and Sam Beckwith sent Curd the wrong way to seize the momentum.
Erico Sousa beat Whatmuff's dive to get Wood on the board but Ed Francis beat Curd down the middle to make it 2-1 and Whatmuff produced a spectacular save to his right to keep Rush's spot-kick out.
Callum Perry made it 3-1 to Dale before Coxe hit the bar to ensure Dale's first win in three Wembley appearances and restore them to the EFL after three years away.
Image source, Getty Images
