Nine-man Manchester United have denied Aston Villa a place in next season's Uefa Cup by holding on to an early 2-goal lead at Villa Park on the final day of the 2003/2004 Premiership season.

Despite having youngsters Darren Fletcher and Cristiano Ronaldo dismissed late in the second half, Sir Alex Ferguson's men battled on and held on to their early advantage.

Skipper Roy Keane was yet again let out of the squad and Sir Alex Ferguson fielded the same side that drew 1-1 with Chelsea last weekend.

The game was marred by some absolutely diabolical refereeing from official Rob Styles that would have even frustrated a neutral fan after booking six players and sending off two for second bookable offences.

The Red Devils got off to a flyer and broke the deadlock after just 4 minutes of play when Darren Fletcher threaded Cristiano Ronaldo who took advantage of Thomas Sorensen's poor positioning.

Just six minutes, Ruud van Nistelrooy took advantage of a terrible defensive error from Liam Ridgewell and squeezed the ball home from close range.

Juan Pablo Angel had his fair share of penalty appeals turned down and like United's Ryan Giggs, fumbled several chances in-front of goal.

Tim Howard wasn't really tested in the opening 45-minutes but was stunned to see Gareth Barry's shot end up in his arms.

With next weekend's FA Cup final in mind, Ferguson withdrew Ruud van Nistelrooy and replaced him with fellow forward Louis Saha on the hour mark.

Referee Rob Styles felt it was relevant to send Scottish international Darren Fletcher off with 15 minutes left to go after lunging in on a Villa player to receive his second yellow card of the game.

After finding out he was offside, Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo lobbed the ball into Sorensen's net and was given his second yellow card of the game.

Former Manchester United star Dion Dublin was handed his last 8 minutes off football for Aston Villa and replaced Gareth Barry. Both sets of supporters showed their appreciation for the forward as he will not be offered a contract from Villa in the summer.

With just nine-men on the field, United claimed 3 points on the final day of the season and sets the Red Devils up nicely for their FA Cup Final next weekend.

Aston Villa: Sorensen, De la Cruz, Mellberg, Ridgewell, Samuel, Hendrie (Whittingham 75), McCann, Hitzlsperger, Barry (Dublin 82), Angel, Crouch (Allback 57).

Manchester United: Howard, Gary Neville, Brown, Silvestre, O'Shea (Djemba-Djemba 73), Ronaldo, Fletcher, Phil Neville, Giggs, Scholes, Van Nistelrooy (Saha 61).

         Final Score: Aston Villa 0 - Manchester United 2
                               Att: 42, 573

Final Premiership Table - 2003/2004

Green denotes Premiership Champions

Red denotes teams who are relegated