COMMONS HAS EX-FACTOR; The FA CUP e.on FOURTH ROUND REPLAYS.

Byline: By IAN EDWARDS 

Nottm Forest 2

Derby County 3

NIGEL CLOUGH pulled off a piece of brinkmanship his legendary father Brian would have been proud of to mastermind a brilliant FA Cup escape act - and reduce his old club Forest to tears.

'Our Nige' shed FA Cup tears of his own back in 1991, when Brian Clough suffered final heartbreak at Wembley against Spurs - but those that flowed last night were those of joy as defiant Derby triumphed in this East Midlands dust-up.

Clough oversaw a fightback from two goals down in the opening 14 minutes to earn another crack at Sir Alex Ferguson.

And just to add insult to injury for Forest, ex-star Kris Commons, who left for Derby in the summer, supplied the killer blow in the 74th minute to earn a fifth-round meeting at home with Manchester United a week on Sunday.

But while there was delight in the Derby camp, and among their army of fans, the night turned from delight to despair for Forest gaffer Billy Davies against his former employers.

Chris Cohen launched Davies to the perfect start after only 62 seconds.

Derby keeper Stephen Bywater was then lucky to only see yellow for felling Nathan Tyson, who got up to slam in the penalty.

Gary Teale tormented Forest with crosses which saw Rob Hulse and Paul Green loop in headers before Commons settled the see-saw battle.

COMPUTER

FOREST DERBY

51% POSSESSION 49%

FACE TO FACE

7 Corners 6

3 Offside 1

12 Fouls 10

1 Cards 2

SHOTS

4 off target 7

5 on target 6

MAN OF THE MATCH

Kris Commons (DERBY)

VILLAIN OF THE MATCH

Paul Smith (FOREST)

NEXT THREE GAMES

NOTTINGHAM FOREST Saturday: QPR (h) Champ Sat Feb 14: Birmingham (h) Champ Wed Feb 18: Ipswich (a) Champ

DERBY COUNTY Saturday: Plymouth (a) Champ Sun Feb 15: Man Utd (h) FA Cup Sat Feb 21: Forest (a) Champ

CAPTION(S):

YOU BEAUTY Commons is hugged by Teale after his winner