Spirited Mansfield Town U18 bowed out of the FA Youth Cup as Derby County U18 scored in either half to progress into round two of the competition.
The Rams got off to a dream start inside the third minute, winning a penalty after Niall McAndrew was upended inside the box.
And Dajuane Brown made no mistake from the spot, blasting into the top left hand corner to give the visitors an early lead.
Derby continued to threaten and almost doubled their lead five minutes later when Brown struck the woodwork after a pull-back from the goal line.
The Rams burst forward in the 14th minute and Cruz Allen managed to weave his way between two defenders to fire a shot which was well held by Stags’ goalkeeper Anthony Nunez.
At the other end, Mansfield left-back Harvey Scott saw his free-kick from the edge of the box headed clear.
On 26 minutes, Derby’s McAndrew embarked on a mazy run into the penalty area before planting his strike into the side netting.
Just beyond the half-hour mark, Rams’ captain Keilen Robinson lashed a half-volley over the bar from 20 yards.
Stags’ striker Dan Organ was shown the game’s first yellow card on 42 minutes for pulling back Derby defender Fred Perry.
On the stroke of half-time, Elliot Hartmann made an inch-perfect challenge inside the home box to prevent an opening for the visitors.
In the last action of the first period, Nunez was well behind Cruz Allen’s thunderous 35-yard free-kick.
Two minutes after the break, Nunez kept out Allen again, this time with a fine save to beat away the frontman’s right-footed hit from 12 yards.
Derby should have doubled their lead when Brown took a neat touch inside the area before lashing wide.
The Rams’ Owen Eames was booked for a push on Ollie Taylor as the midfielder looked to dart forward.
Nunez was again called upon to gather McAndrew’s side-footed attempt from the left of the goal area.
Resillient Stags managed to prevent Nunez from being tested on 69 minutes when Derby stabbed a shot at goal from close range, but a cluster of amber and blue shirts got in the way of the effort.
With 12 minutes remaining, Allen blasted over 20 yards from goal before Mansfield made another change as Che Whitman-Brown replaced Mace Oldershaw.
Stags came mightly close to an equaliser a minute later as Derby goalkeeper Jack Thompson produced an excellent one-handed save to deny Ronnie Kokkinos’ powerful drive.
On 87 minutes, Allen broke clear of the Stags’ defence but directed his shot past the post after advancing one-on-one with Nunez.
And Derby made sure of the victory in the first minute of added time when Tristan Gill arrowed a left-footed effort into the right-hand corner of the net to seal the Rams’ passage into the next round.
STAGS: Nunez, Scott, Hartmann, Whyle, Warnaby, Oldershaw (Whitman-Brown 82), King, Taylor, Organ (Aynsley-Johnson 55), Kokkinos, Johnson (Hamilton 55)
UNUSED SUBS: Leech, Ellis, Scott, Spinks
DERBY: Thompson, Perry (Osayanoe 85), Gill, Hawkins, Cox, Robinson, Osong (Gough H/T), Fames, Brown (Wheeldon 58), Allen, McAndrew
UNUSED SUBS: Price, Oguntolu, Banks, Simons
REFEREE: Haydn Lavender
ATTENDANCE: 678 (123 Derby supporters)
