Twelve man United defeat valiant Villains
Manchester United were good value for their Carling Cup success yesterday, without the obvious assistance of the inept referee Phil Dowd. The fourth minute penalty that handed Aston Villa an early lead came about when Nemanja Vidic upended the impressive Gabby Agbonlahor. It was a definite penalty and Vidic, as the last defender, denied Agbonlahor a clear goal scoring opportunity. The penalty was awarded; the red card didn’t follow it.
Vidic wasn’t even shown a yellow card. Minutes later a flurry of fouls brought about the brandishing of yellow cards to two Villa players. Michael Carrick, who had a good game for United, slid through the back of Villa’s Emile Heskey – no card.
The point is that there was no consistency in Dowd’s decisions. He bottled the Vidic red card call. It would have changed the game and we may now be saluting Villa as the current League Cup holders.
I am loath to criticise referees as they only ever get one view of the action when making a decision. I am willing to criticise Dowd here, however, as he clearly acknowledged the foul committed by Vidic with the awarding of the penalty to Villa. Dowd is an experienced official and should be expected to follow the rules. He clearly should have dismissed Vidic. It would have been better had he not awarded the penalty at all. Instead he only made half a decision.
From that moment on United deserved their victory. The inspirational Wayne Rooney replaced the injured scorer of United’s first – Michael Owen – and took United to a level of football that was simply beyond Villa. Rooney, in tandem with the hugely impressive Antonio Valencia, controlled the game. It could all have been so different. United, with the decisions made by Dowd, appeared to have completed the game with 12 men.
Miles Reucroft
