United can find no way past heroic Dunne

Manchester U 0 Aston Villa 1:THE LAST time Aston Villa won at Old Trafford Bethlehem had a waiting list, never mind the "Theatre of Dreams".

Alex Ferguson now finds himself in the unusual position of having to lift his chastened charges, rather than counsel caution, as Manchester United face Wolves tomorrow in search of a restorative victory after this rare home defeat.

Nobody could seriously suggest the wheels are about to come off for the defending champions, not after losing by the narrowest of margins to opponents who, by Martin O’Neill’s own admission, needed luck as well as resilience to prevail.

To keep Saturday’s result in perspective, it is necessary to remember that United were below strength defensively and that in their previous four matches they rattled in 13 goals, outplaying Wolfsburg on their own patch last week in the Champions League.

There is every chance of Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen et al filling their boots against Wolves, and in the three games that follow over the festive period – Fulham, Hull and Wigan.

That said, however, losing in their Salford fastness will always be a cause for concern and the setback was all the more galling coming on the day when league leaders, Chelsea, also slipped up, against Everton.

Ferguson knew it was an opportunity missed, hence the familiar grumpiness which saw him rail against yet another referee for not adding what he thought was sufficient injury-time.

His team huffed and puffed – “pummelled them” was Ferguson’s description – without seriously inconveniencing Brad Friedel in the Villa goal.

Rooney did rattle the crossbar with one shot, but an outrageous dive pointed up his overall frustration, and Owen, who was introduced for the second half, and Dimitar Berbatov were found wanting when it came to translating a sustained frontal assault on the heroic Richard Dunne and his cohorts into goals.

Resolute in defence and pacily penetrative on the break, O’Neill’s predominantly English team were good value for the club’s first win at Old Trafford since 1983

Dunne, the rock on which so many of United’s attacks foundered, has been so consistently outstanding that it questions Mark Hughes’s judgment in letting him go.

James Collins, from West Ham, has been similarly impressive when fit, and these two have been as good as any centre-backs in the country.

Agbonlahor, who scored the decisive goal on Saturday – his eighth in 16 Premier League appearances – personifies the Villa ethos.

Quick, versatile and intensely ambitious, he can interchange and interact with James Milner, Ashley Young, Emile Heskey and now the restored Stewart Downing to the bemusement of the best defences.

Those of us who doubted Aston Villa’s potential to break into the Champions League places this time, after successive near misses, ought to be thinking again in the light of this impressive display.

O’Neill – who might have had the England job once – is doing Fabio Capello more favours than any other manager in the run up to next summer’s World Cup.

Stephen Warnock, James Milner, Young, Downing, Heskey and Agbonlahor are all, in O’Neill’s view, doubly motivated by the race for places in England’s squad for South Africa.