Half-time: Fulham 2 Derby County 1

Moussa Dembele scored his first senior goals as Fulham raced into a two-goal lead in the Capital One Cup fourth-round clash at Craven Cottage before Derby pulled one back with the last kick of the first half.

Dembele twice netted following defensive aberrations by the visitors, who cut the deficit with Chris Martin’s penalty after Tim Hoogland had handled Omar Mascarell’s free-kick.

Dembele pounced on left-back Craig Forsyth’s woeful back-pass and rounded keeper Kelle Roos before tapping into an empty net for the opener.

And when Mascarell, who was not helped by Roos’ ropey pass, was robbed by Bryan Ruiz near the edge of the box, Dembele slotted home to double the Whites’ lead.

Fulham had made the early running, with Emerson Hyndman sending a free-kick wide of the near post and Dembele having an effort saved.

Dembele then had a clear sight of goal when he collected Elsad Zverotic’s pass and spun away from Derby defender Jake Buxton, but Roos produced a fine reaction save to temporarily deny the teenage striker.

Centre-back Stephen Arthurworrey, making his first-team debut for Fulham, had a header from Sean Kavanagh’s left-wing corner saved.

But Roos was unable to rescue his team when Forysth’s carelessness let in Dembele, who kept his composure to finish nicely.

At the other end, Jeff Hendrick and Johnny Russell both sent efforts wide of the target.

And keeper Gabor Kiraly produced a point-blank save from Russell after the Rams wide-man had exchanged passes with Simon Dawkins.

However, after Dembele’s 45th-minute goal looked like sending Fulham in at the break with a two-goal cushion, Kiraly was unable to keep out Martin’s firmly struck spot-kick.

As well as clinching a quarter-final place, a win for Fulham would be their sixth in nine games under caretaker boss Kit Symons.

Follow West London Sport on Twitter
Find us on Facebook