Derby survived a Carabao Cup scare before beating Salford 5-3 in a penalty shoot-out at Pride Park.
The Rams trailed 2-0 and 3-2 before Ravel Morrison made it 3-3 and goalkeeper Ryan Allsop saved Luke Burgess' spot-kick to put the Sky Bet Championship side through.
Derby made eight changes and were behind after eight minutes when Jordan Turnbull headed in after Ashley Eastham flicked on a corner.
Salford scored again in the 14th minute when Josh Morris beat Allsop with a 20-yard shot that curled just inside his right-hand post.
Allsop saved from Conor McAleny but Derby pulled a goal back four minutes later when Isaac Hutchinson turned inside the box to fire low past Tom King.
Derby were much better in the second half and levelled in the 70th minute when Josh Lowe tripped Festy Ebosele and Colin Kazim-Richards scored the penalty despite slipping as he ran up.
But Salford regained the lead four minutes later when Burgess was barged over by Craig Forsyth and Morris dispatched the penalty.
Derby equalised in the 82nd minute when Morrison fired into the top-left corner after his free-kick came back off the wall.