Substitute Wayne Rooney made the decisive contribution in the Carling Cup final with a late winner as Manchester United beat Aston Villa at Wembley and became the first team to retain the Carling Cup.
Rooney, who started on the bench, finished as the game's match-winner
Aston Villa's Wembley showpiece started perfectly when James Milner put them ahead from the spot after just five minutes following Nemanja Vidic's foul on Gabriel Agbonlahor in the box which the villians felt should have resulted in a red card for the Serbian but Phil Dowd didn't even produce a yellow. And this decision sparked further anger among them as United equalized quickly through Michael Owen.
Milner put Villa in front in the opening 5 minutes of the game
Owen looked sharp in front of watching England coach Fabio Capello, but his lingering hopes of persuading the Italian to include him in his World Cup plans for South Africa may have ended when he pulled up as he ran into the area and was forced to leave the action.
But there was no respite for Villa as enter Wayne Rooney. He entered the action just before half-time to replace the injured Michael Owen and enabled Sir Alex Ferguson's side to come from behind and retain the trophy.
As is his recent trend of scoring these days, he produced another magnificent header to beat Brad Friedel, which turned out to be the winner, in front of the United fans.
It was a bitter disappointment for Villa, who started so promisingly, but they tired as the game wore on at Wembley and United ultimately deserved their triumph.
Manchester United celebrate winning the Carling Cup 2010
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