Commons touch sends Derby through

Former Forest winger Commons sent the Rams through to a last-16 tie at home to Manchester United later this month with a deflected second-half effort.

Derby had seemed down and out when they quickly fell two goals behind. Chris Cohen gave the Reds a dream start with a goal after only 60 seconds.

The midfielder collected a return pass from his own short corner and, after taking a touch to make the shooting angle more favourable, curled a left-foot shot past the unsighted Stephen Bywater from the edge of the area.

And it was soon 2-0 as Nathan Tyson doubled their lead from the penalty spot in the 14th minute. Tyson broke the offside trap and raced goalwards before being tripped by Bywater as he took the ball round the Derby keeper.

Referee Chris Foy wasted no time in pointing to the penalty spot. Bywater was shown a yellow card and was arguably fortunate not to see red after denying Tyson a clear-cut scoring opportunity as the last man.

Tyson dusted himself down, however, and fired the ball into the top corner.

Rob Hulse halved Derby's deficit with a well-placed header as the half-hour mark approached and another header from Paul Green restored parity.

Green dribbled a shot narrowly wide midway through the second half before a thunderous shot from Commons - reminiscent of the one he unleashed in the Carling Cup semi-final first-leg defeat of Manchester United - cannoned back off the foot of the post.

However, Commons finally did find the net in the 73rd minute and it proved to be decisive.