Martin O'Neill has lambasted Carling Cup final referee Phil Dowd for his failure to send off Manchester Unted's Nemanja Vidic .
The Serbian defender brought down Gabriel Agbonlahor just three minutes into the game at Wembley, conceding a penalty which James Milner converted to give Villa the lead.
Vidic appeared to be the last man and by the letter of the law could have been shown a straight red for the challenge but got away without even a yellow.
O'Neill was left frustrated that Vidic stayed on the pitch as United came back to win the game 2-1 and has criticised Dowd for his decision not to send him off.
"I think it would be universally accepted they should have been down to 10 men,'' O'Neill told BBC One.
"
There's no other decision to make.
It's not a good decision by an otherwise fine referee.
It's the major point of the match.
In two or three weeks it's forgotten and the trophy's on their mantlepiece, but it's a poor decision.''