O'Neill to keep building Villa

Martin O'Neill has insisted that a blunder by referee Phil Dowd cost Aston Villa the chance of a Wembley win over Manchester United and the club's first trophy in 14 years.

But the Villa boss is determined that bitterness over Dowd's failure to send off Nemanja Vidic will not tarnish his side's achievement in getting to the League Cup final or dilute its drive to repeat the experience.

Wayne Rooney's late winner earned United a 2-1 win on Sunday afternoon but the game would have had a very different complexion if Dowd had dismissed Vidic - as most pundits felt he should have - for pulling down Gabriel Agbonlahor when the Villa forward was clean through on goal.