A first-half strike by Kris Commons has led Derby County to a 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Pride Park in the Carling Cup semifinals.

Commons scored the only goal of the game when he lashed a 25-yard shot past goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak on Mile Sterjovski's pass in the 30th minute on Wednesday.

"It will be tough to go to Old Trafford and hold on to the 1-0," Commons said. "We'll enjoy it this week - just to beat Manchester United and be able to say that to your kids and grandkids is going to be very special."

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who had made five changes to the side that had overcome Southampton in the FA Cup over the weekend, said his side was lucky to concede only one goal.

"It was a fantastic result for us considering the performance," Ferguson said. “The positive is we only lost 1-0,” he added. “We could have lost by four goals.”

Being a goal down, Ferguson replaced Scholes and Wellbeck with Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney at the hour mark, but the big guns failed to bring about any change in the score line.

"In any semi-final you hope to give yourself a bit of breathing space by winning the first leg but if we take any team back to Old Trafford with a one-nil deficit, we expect to overcome them. I'm sure we will (overcome Derby)," he said.

The second leg of the match is scheduled to be held on January 20 at Old Trafford.

HRF/MMN