Swain on Villa 0 Chelsea 3

Treacherous pitch, referee 'bottling' a decision, the inconsolable gloom of defeat. It could mean only one thing - Villa were at Wembley again.

For the second successive grandstand occasion of a campaign rapidly being trampled underfoot of the Premier League's natural order of things, Villa endured a wretched day out at HQ blighted by a sense of screaming injustice.

Getting beaten in such big games is bad enough. Getting beaten in such big games when you feel so unfairly treated by the run of events adds a maddening frustration that twists the gut for long, long hours afterwards. So it was for Villa and their supporters at this FA Cup semi-final.

Now let us be clear before we go any further. There is no way of knowing if Villa would have beaten Chelsea had referee Howard Webb interpreted John Obi Mikel's grappling of Gabby Agbonlahor in 15th minute as did everyone else - including Chelsea's players - and pointed to the penalty spot.

Indeed, Chelsea may have won this game regardless. Such were the signals of their superiority over the final third of the contest, a Villa goal then might have pressed the buttons their manager Carlo Ancelotti attended to during his half-time address.

But it was yet another 'Sliding Doors' moment for Villa at Wembley. The game went off on a different path the moment Webb made his decision, just as the Carling Cup final had when Nemanja Vidic escaped a red card for hauling down Agbonlahor as he went through on goal. We shall never know for sure how things might have turned out.

Webb is a fine referee but this latest incident adds to a growing list of misfortune for the World Cup-bound official and must surely feed the growing resentment within the Premier League community about the perceived favour the elite clubs enjoy in these big, big moments.

Villa's manager Martin O'Neill had no doubts that the Rotherham official was a rabbit caught in the floodlight of consequences that would follow a penalty award. If he gave it, argued O'Neill, than Mikel would also have to be red carded as the last defender.

This sort of thing, the argument is implied, simply does not happen to the big boys.

O'Neill said: "It was clear Paulo Ferreira could not have got across in time and Mikel would have to be shown a red card."

The Villa manager acknowledged the difficulty of the referee's task and took great care not to get personal about his complaints but the decisions, both in March and now, were in his mind "incontestable."

Eventually, O'Neill and Villa are going to have to let go of their burning sense of injustice and move on, maybe the Irishman will be able to use it to fuel his players for the remainder of their Premier League campaign.

But even as the fires of their indignation were burning on Saturday night, it was still possible to see a watershed moment through the smoke.

This Villa team, which has gathered particular momentum in the last two seasons, has punched itself out and not been able to make a dent in the armour of the uber clubs which continue to dominate our game.

Major changes are required all over the team if they are to improve and, although Saturday night was no time to discuss the follow-up question, you can only wonder whether O'Neill has the energy to begin Phase Two of the Villa rebuild.

As he has himself suggested, that will probably be decided after his end-of-season briefing with owner Randy Lerner but unless the scenario is dramatically transformed by a now-unexpected finish in fourth, many are doubting whether he has the enthusiasm to conduct such drastic surgery.

Always a late and reluctant purchaser in the transfer market, not only does his first team require a costly re-fit - in midfield and especially up front - but the support staff too, who continue to be embarrassed by their inactivity. As Chelsea's grip on this game grew, O'Neill yet again passed his own telling comment on his bench by showing no interest in utilising them.

Emile Heskey replaced an injured John Carew otherwise the only other response was to bung a less than fully fit Richard Dunne up front for a spell. In contrast, Chelsea flooded the final half hour with fresh energy and quality as Salou, Ballack and Anelka joined the fray. The squads remain miles apart.

These are the sobering questions awaiting the Villa fraternity once they have drunk their disappointment into oblivion. Although they have now endured two losing visits to Wembley in five weeks, the die was probably cast 10 years ago in that infamous 2000 FA Cup final between the same clubs.

That was an occasion marked by a Villa manager who tried to stifle his way to silverware after concluding his team could not match Chelsea's in an open contest.

O'Neill induced a significant improvement from his Villa two weeks after that Stamford Bridge humiliation but at the end of it all, the conclusion was the same as that which John Gregory reached 10 years ago - Chelsea and their like remain out of range.

As much as O'Neill bristled at John Terry's cutting remarks about Villa's guaranteed fatigue over the late stages, especially against a team which keeps the ball so much better, there was nothing here to suggest the Chelsea captain was wrong.

After Chelsea's decisive first goal from Didier Drogba in the 66th minute, Villa could barely raise a trot in retaliation; their opponents cruised on while inflicting unnecessary cruelty with two further counter-attacking strikes from Florent Malouda and Frank Lampard in the final minutes.

It's difficult to like Chelsea and all they stand for but you have to admire the quality of their football. It's difficult not to like O'Neill's Villa and all they stand for.

But admiration for the quality of their football has yet to follow.