Once again the sun shone and after another Sunday afternoon stroll to Villa Park we were treated to another teatime horror show. Thankfully, the consequences of this one were far less calamitous than two years ago when we tumbled out of the top flight but the half-hearted surrender and subsequent disappointment felt remarkably similar.

We owed this lot for what happened in May 2009 - not necessarily the playing staff for beating us on a day when we shot ourselves in the foot - but we certainly owed their followers for an inexplicable delight in our demise. Where that came from remains a mystery but the 6-0 thrashing we dished out in August certainly felt good. But only revelling in their demotion would see some sort of natural justice.

There were no bed sheets out to greet us this time as their nervous ne'er-do-wells sensed that what goes around was coming around to them and thankfully we didn't stoop to their levels by bringing any bed linen of our own. However, the animosity and vitriol was there in abundance.

To see the Manchester United of the Midlands floundering was amusing. They struggled to fill their modest-sized ground when they had pretensions of the Champions League under Martin O'Neill but now fighting off relegation under Gerard Houllier has seen bucket loads of empty seats. Their average, highest and lowest attendances are all a staggering 10,000 below ours. Whatever you think of the real Manchester United, at least their muppets fill Old Trafford.

It was a shame we couldn't push them a little closer to the precipice and the game ultimately ended up seeing two terrible teams trying to outdo each other in the mediocre stakes. Both are probably safe in the knowledge that they will meet again in the Premier League next season and in the end it was the home side who took all three points. However, neither teams deserved any credit for a tortuous display in front of a live TV audience who presumably nodded off after their Sunday roasts.

For Alan Pardew, the signs were all too clear that he needs every penny of the Andy Carroll money to strengthen a squad that looked beyond threadbare without two or three of its main performers.

Kevin Nolan and Cheick Tiote were badly missed, with Fabricio Coloccini looking lost in a new midfield role while Jose Enrique had a rare off day and most of his white shirt wearing team mates surrendered possession alarmingly.

Joey Barton also had a day to forget after a week of exercising his jaw muscles more than usual. He kept that going on the field, using the captain's armband as an excuse for a relentless dialogue with referee Attwell that only succeeded in stirring the home fans and players.

It was Barton's foul that led to the only goal of the game in the 24th minute which came against the run of play but Peter Lovenkrands and Shola Ameobi's late replacement, Nile Ranger, hadn't really threatened to convert some good approach play from United, mainly down the left.

The vital strike was simple enough - James Collins glancing a free-kick beyond Steve Harper into the far corner.

Earlier Ranger should have done much better when attempting to sidefoot past Brad Friedel after Jonas Gutierrez had played him in and Barton's header at the far post flew over the bar with the goal gaping.

Shortly after the break, with Ranger struggling badly to get any change out of Collins, he was left with only the lumbering Richard Dunne to outpace but didn't seem to read the run of the ball and allowed Dunne to make a challenge.

The odious Ashley Young - who seems to have taken over from Lee Hendrie as chief villain at this place - was throwing himself to the floor at every opportunity but still looked the main threat to double the score, Harper watching a low effort from him skim narrowly wide.

There were calls from the away supporters to make changes but there was little to choose from one of our thinnest benches in years. Bringing on Ryan Taylor for his namesake - who had been poor in his preferred centre back role - allowed Coloccini to escape from his midfield mismatch and Taylor did manage to whip over a couple of semi-decent crosses.

Then came the defining moment of our desperation as Shefki Kuqi was cheered off the bench and onto the pitch and after replacing Ranger, he provided more threat in ten minutes than Ranger had in the previous 83.

Lovenkrands almost converted a late header and Taylor went close with a free-kick to steal what would have been an undeserved point but Villa clung on to claim an equally undeserved three that should see them climb away from the relegation zone. However, it's scary to think that three teams, worse than the two on display here, will fall through the Premier League trapdoor.

We remained in ninth and our positive goal difference means that we effectively have reached the 40 point mark. Just as well given this indescribably inept display....

It felt uncomfortably similar to that Sunday 0-1 defeat in May 2009, with identical weather conditions and a parallel performance. But it's no comfort at all that our less-talented team had a few more legitimate excuses - there was no excuse at all for not beating this dishevelled rabble.

This used to be one of our favourite grounds in terms of results, but we've now lost the last four and only seen one goal. The change from the usual black and white - presumably a thinly veiled marketing ploy to shift third kit replica - did us no favours whatsoever but that had nothing to do with lucky or unlucky omens. Like last time - it was all down the chumps wearing them.

Niall MacKenzie