Rooney Released to Deliver Killer Blow

Manchester United made it 13 wins in a row against Aston Villa with two goals in the last 10 minutes. They might not have had to wait that long but for Wayne Rooney being given only 20 minutes in which to impress the new England coach. Rooney came on and duly changed the game, possibly leaving Villa's VIP guest wondering, like the rest of the crowd, what United were playing at.

What a welcome to England for Fabio Capello. A chilly evening in Birmingham and two of the best players in the country, Wayne Rooney and Owen Hargreaves, warming the Manchester United bench. Hargreaves has been trying to shake off a knee problem all season, though what Rooney is trying to shake off is less clear, having been photographed out on New Year's Eve when he was supposed to be ill.

It is unlikely that Sir Alex Ferguson was merely rotating his squad, since in the absence of the injured Carlos Tevez the England striker would have made an ideal replacement and brought some much needed menace to the visitors' attack.

On the positive side, the new England coach saw nine English players on the field at the start of the game, so doubtless he will now be under the impression that reports of the scarcity of local talent have been greatly exaggerated.

He also saw a rattling good Cup tie with both teams committed to attack, complete with the sort of frantic, end-to-end opening that fans enjoy but more sophisticated footballing cultures tend to laugh at.

Gabriel Agbonlahor demonstrated his speed early on, catching United out with his control then cutting in from the left to make room for a shot, only to waste the opportunity by waiting a fraction too long. Anderson responded with a 50-yard dash through the heart of the Villa defense, leaving Gareth Barry and Curtis Davies trailing in his wake before bringing the first save of the game from Scott Carson.

Stilian Petrov shot narrowly over, Rio Ferdinand bravely put his body in the way to block Agbonlahor and Ryan Giggs headed too high from Patrice Evra's useful cross, and that was just the first 20 minutes.

If Capello's English lessons are going according to schedule, he must have been amused by the wit and jollity those much maligned United supporters brought to the party, too. Always at home at Villa Park, the traveling supporters first derided the home fans for not selling all their tickets (there were a few empty seats at the Holte End) then decided their manager wasn't making enough noise.

'Fergie, Fergie give us a song,' was quickly followed by 'Can you hear Fergie sing? Noo-oo'.

The last few minutes of the first half did not live up to the hectic promise of the opening half-hour, although United should have turned around in front when Giggs was presented with an open goal after 44 minutes.

All the winger had to do was tap the ball into the net after Carson had failed to hold Cristiano Ronaldo's diagonal drive, yet although the chance fell to his left foot, Giggs skewed wide from the six-yard line with the goal at his mercy.

Muted calls for Rooney's introduction were heard from the visitors' end as the team filed off for the interval.

United failed to make that change at half time, though the longer the match went on the more they looked in need of attacking inspiration. Louis Saha was causing few problems for Davies and Martin Laursen, and a rusty-looking Park Ji-Sung was hardly in the game. Rooney replaced Park after 70 minutes and gave the ball away with his first touch.

If that brought a sigh from the expensive seats, what Rooney did next was considerably better, freeing Ronaldo down the right with a first-time pass then scooting 30 yards to be in the middle to meet the return.

Unfortunately, Rooney was travelling too quickly to keep his shot under control and he ended a well-worked move with a shot that flew over the bar.

With Saha withdrawn next and Hargreaves coming on to stiffen the midfield (he also gave the ball away with one of his first touches, on the edge of his own penalty area), United ended up with Rooney almost on his own up front, with intermittent support from Ronaldo.

Odd, perhaps, but this was the configuration that brought the winning goals. With Rooney occupying Villa's central defenders, a low Giggs cross from the left crept all the way across the face of goal, and Wilfred Bouma was embarrassed at the far post when Ronaldo forced his way across him to tuck the ball over the line for his 19th goal of the season.

Having failed to beat United in their previous 20 attempts, Villa never looked capable of saving the game in the nine minutes that remained, though Craig Gardner might have done better than head over the bar when a rare chance came his way.

Michael Carrick brought a double save from Carson at the other end before Rooney supplied the fairytale ending, lashing in a shot from the edge of the area after a Ronaldo effort was deflected his way.

That's an English fairytale ending, obviously. The Italians might have another way of describing it.