manchester united get the glory for 2010 caling cup...

Wayne Rooney came off the bench to inspire Manchester United to victory by grabbing a memorable winner.

But controversy surrounded this Wembley occasion when referee Phil Dowd blundered by not sending off United defender Nemanja Vidic in the fourth minute for a foul on Gabby Agbonlahor.

It outraged Martin O'Neill and his players. Agbonlahor had a one on one with Vidic and the Villa man had the defender worried as he raced for goal.

The Villa striker stopped for a second inside the box and then slipped the ball past the Serbia defender to open up the angle for a shot on goal.

But Vidic took the legs away from his opponent and a penalty was awarded.

Milner stepped up and drove the spotkick with his right foot with power and precision, low into the bottom left-hand corner of Tomasz Kuszczak's net.

It was the start O'Neill had hoped for. But he and his players were not totally satisfied. Vidic had prevented a clear goalscoring opportunity and should have walked. He wasn't even booked. Shocking refereeing.

Ferguson admitted Vidic was"probably lucky" but O'Neill was left fuming.

He said: "It was an inexplicable decision. It's straightforward from an otherwise fine referee who has got it wrong. It's as simple as that.

"We're losing finalists in a fine game of football but it was a major point.

"We played some really great football, some great performances. But you can't keep a team like Manchester United at bay all the time."

Dowd went on to display alarming inconsistency when he booked Villa's James Collins and Stewart Downing for tripping United players.

It was level after 13 minutes. Richard Dunne was careless in possession 35 yards from goal. Dimitar Berbatov took advantage of the slackness to nick the ball and race towards goal.

Great credit to Berbatov for his perseverance. Dunne recovered the ground to slide in but his tackle at the edge of the box only knocked the ball into the path of Michael Owen.

And the former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker didn't even have to break stride as he placed it past Brad Friedel from 16 yards. It was a lovely finish.

It must have impressed England boss Fabio Capello, who sat up in the stand just yards behind the United technical area which featured Wayne Rooney on the subs bench.

Prior to kick-off the decision to leave out the most on-form player in the country surprised many.

Keeper Edwin van der Sar was the only other regular top-team starter left out.

Rooney did come on in the 41st minute when Owen hobbled off. He didn't disappoint.

The first half was end to end. Both sides, who played 4-4-2, enjoyed their fair share of possession, and neither really had total control in the middle of the park. United preferred the intricate passing whereas Villa tried to use the blistering pace of Ashley Young and Agbonlahor whenever possible against the suspect Old Trafford backbone.

Kuszczak had to make decent saves from Heskey and Milner and on the stroke of half-time Ji-Sung Park hit Friedel's left-hand post with a closerange shot after an almighty scramble inside the Villa box.

United looked as though they planned to up their tempo after the break and had O'Neill's men pinned back.

Michael Carrick became more involved, supporting his strikers in the final third. He let rip with a shot from the edge of the box and Friedel had to dive to his right to claw it away.

As the game wore on there was definitely more energy about the United team. They passed and moved well.

Antonio Valencia was in the mood to inflict damage. Darren Fletcher tidied upon the halfway line without too many problems.

Part of the problem for Villa was that Emile Heskey looked dead on his feet after an hour.

The powerful striker offered little. His control was poor.

And he didn't have the pace to get into the box often enough to get on the end of cross balls. That left Downing and Ashley Young frustrated.

United made a change in the 66th minute when young right-back Rafael was replaced by veteran Gary Neville and Dowd then booked Vidic for a foul on Agbonlahor.

Another goal looked on the cards and it came in the 74th minute. Valencia and Berbatov played a lovely one-two inside the area. The winger looked up and his little dink found the unmarked Rooney 12 yards out.

His leap was tremendous and his looping header inch-perfect to give a fully-stretched Friedel no chance as it sailed into the left postage-stamp.

Just three minutes later Rooney hit a post with a header again from a Valencia cross. Rooney was brilliant.

His effort was different class, often dropping into the left-hand side of midfield to help Evra cope with Ashley Young and Downing.

Kuszczak pulled off a stunning stop to tip a Vidic header over the bar after the defender deflected a Downingcross towards goal.

That was about all Kuszczak had to do in the final stages as the Cup returned to Old Trafford.

It was a day of joy for Sir Alex Ferguson and his players but it left O'Neill and former Old Firm players Stan Petrov and Cuellar heartbroken.

United did deserve to win. No doubts about that. However, Villa will feel cheated by that early Dowd decision.

Dodgy refereeing is not just exclusive to our own SPL, it would appear. That said, at least there was no after-match conspiracy theory chat.

Ferguson was delighted to land his 32nd major trophy at United and said: "The only way you can enjoy Wembley is by winning."