The last time Aston Villa defeated Manchester United at home in the Premier League, at the start of the 1995-96 season, Alan Hansen boldly, and rather foolishly as it turned out, declared: "You win nothing with kids". At times the chasm between the two clubs in the interim years has been huge but this represented a wonderful chance for Villa to record their first win over United in almost 15 years after Nani's first-half sending off.
Yet the lack of attacking threat that looks set to undermine Villa's pursuit of a place in the top four was once again a salient feature as Martin O'Neill's side struggled to trouble seriously a United team down to 10 men. O'Neill claimed beforehand that the shortage of goals this season "hasn't become critical for us at the minute" but it soon will. Wayne Rooney has scored five more league goals than Villa's three frontline strikers together.
Although Villa managed to register their first league goal at home since 19 December, it came via the head of Carlos Cuéllar, a defender. Thereafter United controlled more of the possession despite their numerical disadvantage and, when Villa did hold the ball for any period, their build-up was prosaic. At this rate the best defensive record in the Premier League will count for little because of Villa's lack of penetration at the other end of the pitch.
Nani's dismissal could not have been more clear-cut. The Portuguese lunged into Stilian Petrov with both feet off the ground right in front of Peter Walton. It was reckless and mindless and gave the referee no choice but to brandish a straight red card that means Nani will now face an automatic three-match ban, ruling him out of the league games against Everton and West Ham and also the Carling Cup final at the end of the month.
The encouragement was there for Villa to open United up but O'Neill's side prefer to be counter-attacking rather than trying to break down two banks of four. That much was evident during the goalless draw against West Ham United last month. The Villa manager reacted with a mixture of disbelief and frustration when he was later told that, including set pieces, Villa had delivered 58 crosses without scoring in that fixture.
United, who hauled themselves level when James Collins put into his own net – taking their tally of own-goals for the season into double figures – had life much more comfortable here. Indeed the travelling supporters, who again made their feelings known about the Glazers with a banner that read 'DEBT IS THE ROAD TO RUIN. DAVID GILL. AUGUST 2004', might have left disappointed with a point after United created the better chances – that is, until the result came through from Goodison Park.
