Derby reached the last eight of the League Cup for the first time since 1990 - but Paul Jewell's side were made to work hard for their 2-1 victory against Leeds at Pride Park.

Emanuel Villa and Nathan Ellington scored to put Derby in control inside 20 minutes of the fourth-round encounter.

But Luciano Becchio halved Leeds' deficit just before the break and the League One side put their Championship hosts under some severe pressure in the second half.

The tie rekindled memories among some supporters of the fierce rivalry between the two clubs in the 1970s during the Brian Clough-Don Revie era when both were challenging at the sharp end of England's top division.

The fortunes of both clubs are very different these days, of course, but both sets of fans were still in fine voice throughout.

Villa followed up his hat-trick in the previous round against Brighton by opening the scoring after six minutes.

The Argentinian took full advantage of the game's first chance. He fashioned the opportunity himself, out-muscling Lubomir Michalik on the right of the area and driving into the box.

With Michalik still in tow, Villa held off the Slovakian's challenge to coolly steer the ball wide of Casper Ankergren into the far corner with his left foot.

Kris Commons' low shot from 25 yards went narrowly wide in the ninth minute as the Rams almost doubled their lead.

Leeds created their first chance two minutes later but Becchio's goalbound effort was deflected over the crossbar by Paul Connolly's sliding challenge.

Derby's second goal after 18 minutes was one of real class. Villa passed the ball infield to Commons who played a neat one-two with Przemyslaw Kazmierczak on the edge of the box.

Commons shaped to unleash a left-foot shot. His disguise was perfect and took Ankergren out of the equation allowing him to roll a square pass to Ellington, who had the simple task of side-footing the ball into an empty net for his fifth goal in this season's competition.

Villa shot into the side netting from an acute angle following Connolly's pull back from the byline in the 37th minute while Roy Carroll needed two attempts to hold on to Andy Robinson's low shot soon after.

Becchio halved Leeds' deficit five minutes before half-time when he planted a firm header into the corner from eight yards following Frazer Richardson's right-wing cross.

It was Becchio's sixth goal in his last eight games and set up an intriguing second half.

Visibly buoyed by Becchio's goal, Gary McAllister's side emerged from the break with renewed vigour.

They twice came close to an equalising goal either side of the hour mark.

Robert Snodgrass' curling free-kick from the right-hand side of the box clipped the outside of a post before Carroll produced a fine parrying save to keep out Robinson's placed shot from 10 yards out.

That was Robinson's final contribution before he was replaced by top scorer Jermaine Beckford after 64 minutes.

Leeds' 13-goal striker wasted little time in getting involved in the action. Beckford sent an angled shot into the side-netting and flashed another effort just wide within minutes of his introduction.

Rob Hulse came on against his former club midway through the second half, replacing Villa. It was Derby's second substitution after Gary Teale was swapped for Ruben Zadkovich at half-time.

Hulse could have put the game beyond Leeds with 10 minutes remaining but looped his header just wide of the far post.

Beckford tried to chip Carroll from 35 yards in the last of four minutes of injury time. His effort had the veteran keeper scrambling back towards his goal but the ball dropped on the roof of the net as Derby held on.