Villa blogger Dave Bytheway gives his account of the big day at Wembley and warns that is it for another year if they cannot get past Reading in the FA Cup.

It’s four long days now since our venture to the capital to play Manchester United in the Carling Cup final at Wembley, and I still have the remains of a nasty bitter taste in my mouth.

No, it’s not from the overpriced headless beer, it’s from one of the biggest wrong decisions a referee could possible make.

When Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor was through one on one with the goalkeeper barely four minutes into the league cup final there was only going to be one outcome. He was just about to shoot, had cleared all defenders, and was recklessly pulled to the ground by United defender Nemanja Vidic.

A goalscoring opportunity? Definitely. Did Vidic prevent it being scored? Of course he did. So, why on earth did referee Phil Dowd not deem it fit not to produce any card whatsoever? The laws of the game aren’t always the easiest to understand, but the rule broken by Vidic is pretty clear in my opinion and therefore he HAD to see red.

OK, we scored the resulting penalty, but with Vidic sent off could have meant one of their front two, probably Michael Owen being replaced by a defender, meaning no equaliser and more importantly no Wayne Rooney as his latter replacement.

Overall though, despite the awful decision, I don’t think we did enough as a team to win the cup. We looked similar to our last performance in 2000 when we appeared jaded and lethargic. I’m not sure what caused it but it was one of those days.

The day out at Wembley was great. The 8:05am train from Wolverhampton to Euston was buzzing with anticipation for our first final in 10 years, and the pre-match pub was Club 2000, right next door to the ground itself. The stadium inside is top class, and it looks every bit the arena that was promised. Outside is a different matter, with the same old problems faced with the old ground.

One main problem outside was the non-existant policing and segregation. Both sets of fans were sent into each others paths and small pockets of fans were intent on causing trouble. If, and it’s a big if, we did reach the semi-final and were drawn against Blues it would be carnage. Some serious organisation would have to go into that possible game to avoid serious problems.

Now with cup final behind us we go to Reading on Sunday with the chance to go back to Wembley in five weeks. Win, our season is up and running again. Lose, and I feel that’s it for another year.

Come on lads, do it for the fans! Up the Villa!