Aston Villa 1-2 Man Utd

Wayne Rooney came off the bench to head the winner as Manchester United retained the Carling Cup by coming from behind to beat Aston Villa 2-1 at Wembley.

Replaced by Michael Owen in the starting line-up, Rooney came on for his injured team-mate before half-time and then guided home the winning goal 16 minutes from time.

Villa had enjoyed a dream start when taking the lead on five minutes after James Milner coolly sent Tomasz Kuszczak the wrong way from the penalty spot after Nemanja Vidic was fortunate not to be sent off for bringing down Gabriel Agbonlahor.

United were level less than 10 minutes later, though, when Dimitar Berbatov robbed Richard Dunne of possession and, while the Villa defender recovered to tackle the Bulgarian, the loose ball was swept home from just inside the box by Owen.

But Owen failed to last the half as his injury jinx struck again and he was replaced by Rooney before United almost went into the break in front when Park Ji-sung's shot thudded off the post and bounced clear off Carlos Cuellar.

Brad Friedel produced an excellent save from Michael Carrick early in the second period, but was beaten on 74 minutes when Antonio Valencia, after a slick one-two with Berbatov, stood a cross up for Rooney to guide a header beyond the Villa keeper's reach.

Rooney headed another Valencia cross against the base of the upright moments later and, though Emile Heskey's header deflected on to the top of the crossbar, Villa were unable to prevent United from winning back-to-back cup competitions for the first time in the club's history.