Substitute Wayne Rooney secured the Carling Cup for Manchester United at Wembley.

The England striker came on to replace the injured Michael Owen and made the final contribution in a controversial game which should have seen United down to ten men with just five minutes on the clock.

Gabby Agbonlahor burst clear of the United defence and with Vidic giving chase looked all set to launch an opportunity at goal. However the Serbian defender hauled down the Villa man to concede a penalty which James Milner calmly converted to take a shock lead.

However Villa will be outraged that even though he gave the penalty decision, referee Phil Dowd failed to even caution Vidic for a challenge which according to the rules should have seen him receive his marching orders.

Minutes after the penalty, a defensive lapse from Richard Dunne saw Dimitar Berbatov race towards goal, however despite winning the ball back off the Bulgarian, the ball fell into the path of Michael Owen who struck first time past the outstretched hand of Brad Friedel in the Villa goal to earn the equaliser.

Owen would later go off with a hamstring injury whilst Villa toiled to get back into the lead however the scores remained level at the interval.

Dowd seemed eager to book Villa players for challenges that United players were getting away with to bring further criticism from Martin O’Neill, and will be fuming when Vidic was later booked for a cynical challenge, a caution which should have seen him walk had he been booked for the earlier foul on Agbonlahor.

However despite opportunities for Villa, United were the team in the ascendency and their pressure told with 15 minutes left when Wayne Rooney met a Patrice Evra cross with a looping header into the top corner to give United the lead which they would hold on to until the end.

Villa missed a glorious opportunity with minutes to spare but Dunne failed to connect with a Stewart Downing cross with the goal at his mercy and the trophy remains at Old Trafford for another year.

Attendance: 88,596
Referee: Phil Dowd

Aston Villa: Friedel, Dunne, Cuellar (Carew 80), Warnock, Collins, Downing, A Young, Milner, Petrov, Agbonlahor, Heskey

Man United: Kuszczak, Evra, Vidic, Rafael (Neville 66), Evans, Park (Gibson 85), Carrick, Fletcher, Valencia, Owen (Rooney 42), Berbatov

Jon Osterland