Mansfield Town won 6-5 on penalties to earn two points in the Papa Johns Trophy Group Stage following a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes at home to Derby County.
Oli Hawkins converted Mansfield’s final spot kick and Richard Stearman missed as Stags won 6-5 in sudden death.
In an enteraining 90 minutes of normal time, both goals came in the first half.
Lewis Dobbin rifled home for Derby and in the last seconds George Maris’ whipped corner urled over the goalline.
Stags’ boss Nigel Clough made eight changes from Friday night’s 2-2 draw at home to Hartlepool United in Sky Bet League Two.
Scott Flinders, James Perch, John-Joe O'Toole, Kieran Wallace, Hiram Boateng, Jason Law, Jordan Bowery and Will Swan replaced Christy Pym, Oli Hawkins, Riley Harbottle, Kellan Gordon, Stephen Quinn, Ollie Clarke, George Lapslie and Lucas Akins.
Stags flew out the starting traps and Derby goalkeeper Scott Loach had to race out of his goal in the opening minute to deny a Will Swan effort after the Forest loanee had sprinted beyond the visitors’ defence.
Mansfield’s backline was caught napping in the seventh minute when Derby frontman Lewis Dobbin broke the offside trap, latching on to a lovely throughball, but could only fire wide from inside the box.
Then in the blink of an eye, Swan was a stride away from connecting with Stephen McLaughlin’s left-sided curling cross as Nigel Clough’s men looked to hit the Rams on the counter surge.
Maris was the first name in the referee’s notebook in the 11th minute when he upended Louie Sibley to prevent a Derby attack down the middle.
After the game entered a quiet spell, Derby might have taken the lead in the 25th minute when Bartosz Cybulski headed wide from six yards following Haydon Roberts’ left-wing cross.
But Dobbin made no such mistake three minutes later as Derby took the lead.
Receiving a delightful pass on the left, the Rams’ striker spun his marker, slipped the ball onto his right foot and curled a lovely effort into the right hand corner of the goal.
After the half-hour mark, Stags’ midfielder Kieran Wallace – appearing injured – was replaced by club captain Ollie Clarke.
Derby’s Eiran Cashin was then shown a yellow card after he bodychecked Jason Law to stop him bursting into the left side of the penalty area.
In the 37th minute, Stags roamed forward at break-neck speed, with Clarke starting the move on the Stags’ goallline and Jordan Bowery and Jason Law also involved. But Swan, the recipient of the final ball, lashed his shot well wide.
Stags rattled the woodwork with two and a half minutes of normal time remaining in the first half.
Boateng lined up to shoot from 25 yards and saw his wonderful curling attempt come back off the underside of the bar.
Then, in the follow-up, Swan seemed like he was pushed to the ground as he looked to shoot and referee Ben Toner allowed play to continue.
Then came Stags’ leveller.
With seconds to spare at the end of the first half, George Maris equalised directly from a corner with an inswinging flag kick which caused havoc inside the Derby goal area and eluded everyone to sneak over the goalline.
At the interval, Lucas Akins and Oli Hawkins replaced John-Joe O’Toole and Jordan Bowery, while Derby made three changes.
Stags started the second-half brightly and Swan struck narrowly off target on 51 minutes from Law’s right-sided low ball.
At the other end, Flinders had to be alert to a deep high cross from Roberts, but – backpedalling - managed to palm away.
Moments later, Cybulski let fly with a rasping shot outside the box which smacked against the base of a post.
In an end-to-end spell, Loach narrowed the angle to again thwart Swan as Stags looked for the lead.
Riley Harbottle came on for Stephen McLaughlin on 58 minutes with the game still level before Boateng and Maris were replaced by James Gale and George Lapslie.
On 65 minutes, Law tried his luck from 20 yards and his well-hit effort earned a corner after deflecting behind en route to goal.
Mansfield increased the tempo and Akins came close when he struck against the chest of Loach from 15 yards.
On 72 minutes, Craig Forsyth received a yellow card for a foul on the lively James Gale.
Two minutes later, Clarke met the same fate when he came in late on Thompson.
Flinders came to Stags’ rescue with an excellent stop on 79.
Mansfield sloppily lost possession in midfield, allowing Derby to roam forwards.
And at the end of a three man counter attacking move, Cybulski found himself one-on-one with Flinders, but saw his shot denied by the goalkeeper’s outstretched leg.
Then Akins charged forward before lashing off target, with Swan close to connecting on the slide.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was booked for simulation as he tried to win a spot kick for Derby.
Swan then fired against the goalkeeper, and after Loach could only parry, Lapslie – under pressure – could only divert behind inside the goal area.
As Stags kept their foot on the gas, Gale saw an effort float wide and Clarke mis-struck into the Quarry Lane End.
In the dying stages of stoppage time and after an almighty scramble in the goal area, Derby had the ball in the net but the flag was up for offside.
After a 1-1 draw following normal game, the game headed to a penalty shootout.
Akins struck first and saw his shot saved by Loach.
And Flinders was also equal to Mendez-Laing’s poorly-hit spot kick.
Swan drew first blood from the spot as he put Stags ahead by sending the goalie the wrong way.
Jason Knight levelled for Derby to make it 1-1.
George Lapslie snuck one into the bottom right hand corner to put Stags 2-1 in front.
Thompson blasted into the top right hand corner to equalise for Derby.
Hewitt got his name on the scorecard with a confident finish to make it 3-2 to Mansfield.
And Stags were in the driving seat when Forsyth whacked his penalty against the bar.
But Law saw his low shot well saved by Loach, diving to his right.
Cybulski made it 3-3 as the penalties entered sudden death.
Gale calmly tucked away to poke Stags in front.
Roberts then kept his nerve to send it home for Derby.
Clarke picked his spot well to score for Mansfield before Oduroh levelled to make it 5-5.
Hawkins made it 6-5 to the Stags and Stearman steered his penalty over the angle of crossbar as Mansfield earned an extra point in the group stages.
STAGS: Flinders, Hewitt, O'Toole (Hawkins 46), Perch, McLaughlin (Harbottle 58), Wallace (Clarke 31), Boateng (Gale 63), Maris (Lapslie 63), Law, Bowery (Akins 46), Swan
UNUSED SUB: Pym
DERBY: Loach, Barkhuizen (Mendez-Lang 46), Stearman, Roberts, Forsyth, Cashin (Robinson 46), Bird (Knight 46), Sibley (Aghatise 76), Thompson, Dobbin (Oduroh 67), Cybulski
UNUSED SUBS: Wildsmith, Haigh
REFEREE: Ben Toner
ATTENDANCE: 3,630 (1,685 Derby fans)
