Derby County moved on to the FA Cup Fifth Round following a 1-0 victory over Accrington Stanley at the Wham Stadium.
After decent chances to start each half, Martyn Waghorn fired Derby to victory late on after Duane Holmes, who had been excellent, poked the ball through to him.
Both sides were reduced to ten men, with Accrington Stanley’s Dan Barlaser given the marching orders midway through the first-half before Jayden Bogle was shown a straight red minutes before the final whistle.
The Rams were pushed all the way by a brave Accrington side but the League Two side were unable to find the answer.
The Rams had the best chance of the half inside the opening ten minutes when Scott Malone made the first of many of his blistering runs down the left. His pin-point cross met the head of Martyn Waghorn right in front of the goal, who directed his effort towards goal, but Jonny Maxted did well to palm in away.
Accrington’s backline proved difficult for the Rams to break down as they pushed forward. The home side did manage to get forward and produce half-chances with Jordan Clark dragging an effort wide before Callum Johnson made a run down the right to go one-on-one with Roos and fire wide also.
With ten minutes left in the half, Maxted was called in to action again when George Evans was played through in the box and shrugged off his man before taking aim.
Moments later, Accrington were hit on the counter-attack as Holmes raced down the other end and fed David Nugent out wide. The striker played the ball to Jayden Bogle back in the box but the young right-back was brought down by Ross Sykes just in front of the goal as he turned away from his man.
Derby began the second-half with urgency and back on the front-foot. Again Malone and Waghorn combines again in the opening minutes to come close to breaking the deadlock.
The left-back beat his man down the flank and crossed to an unmarked Waghorn at the far post who couldn’t stretch his foot far enough to meet it.
Just before the hour mark, Fikayo made a superb block to deny Sean McConville’s shot from close range. However, immediately after their best chance so far, Barlaser was shown red after a second yellow for a foul on Nugent.
The home side had another opportunity to take the lead when Janoi Donacien found McConville in the area who curled his effort inches wide.
With just over ten minutes to go, Waghorn lashed home after Holmes excellently got round his man to poke it forward for the forward to break the deadlock.
The Rams looked to double their lead with minutes to go following a free-kick from a dangerous position for Accrington. Holmes latched on to the clearance and raced forward before feeding Mason Bennett. The forward’s strike was met by a good save from Maxted.
In the final minute Bogle was shown a straight red card for pulling down Paul Smyth on the edge of the box as he looked to go head-to-head with Kelle Roos. Billy Kee took a low free-kick but a wonderful save by Roos pushed it wide.
Accrington Stanley: Maxted; Johnson (Brown, 84), Sykes, Hughes, Richards-Everton, Donacien (Smyth, 84); McConville, Barlaser, Conneely (C), Clark; Kee
Unused Subs: Evtimov, Zanzala, Rodgers, Mangan, Mingoia
Derby County: Roos; Bogle, Keogh (C), Tomori, Malone; Mount (Bennett, 37), Evans, Wilson (Jozefzoon, 72); Waghorn(Bird, 89), Nugent, Holmes
Unused Subs: Mitchell, Macdonald, Mitchell-Lawson, Huddlestone
