SOCCER: Aston Villa - 2 Man Utd - 3: Ruud Van Nistelrooy, with a record-breaking double strike, conjured an FA Cup third-round comeback worthy even of Manchester United's epic proportions last night.

But the pitch invasions which followed both of the Dutchman's late goals as a substitute brought even Alex Ferguson to his feet in anger, the more so in the wake of the shameful scenes at the Cardiff match against Leeds at Ninian Park earlier in the day.

The English FA will have its work cut out in not only investigating the incidents during and after Leeds's shock defeat at Cardiff, but also in taking action against United's fans who invaded the pitch on three separate occasions.

However, while nothing will ever compare to the Champions League final of 1999, this classic Cup tie was yet another late comeback of massive significance to United's resurgent campaign. Ferguson may be retiring at the end of the season, but his side have not lost their resilience or dogged refusal to give up a seemingly lost cause.

United seemed down and out with only 13 minutes remaining as their defensive Achilles heel had undermined them yet again to leave them 2-0 behind and Villa seemingly coasting to victory.

Then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer struck out of the blue and that was the cue for Van Nistelrooy, who has set a record by scoring in each of his past eight games for United, to seize the game by the scruff of the neck.

First he put his side level three minutes later and then, incredibly, hit the winner only 60 seconds after that.

Then again, Ferguson will know that unless his team, who will visit Wimbledon or Middlesbrough in the next round,stop giving themselves such mountains to climb, they will eventually fall flat on their faces.

Not that anything of note happened in a dreary first half, however. David Beckham may have been back in the United side for only the second time in nine matches, but there was no creative spark in either team at this stage.

With Van Nistelrooy starting on the bench apparently due to a groin injury, Andy Cole sold and Dwight Yorke in the departure lounge, United were down to just Solskjaer up front.

Indeed, the only real chance of the entire first half came after 38 minutes when the substitute Luke Chadwick, who had earlier replaced the injured Nicky Butt, was set clear by Solskjaer but shot wide.

Chadwick also missed a clear opening just after the break and then, when United upped the pace, Solskjaer looked to be held back by Steve Staunton in the area only for referee Graham Poll to wave play on.

Within a minute Villa were ahead completely against the run of play. Lee Hendrie was the instigator with a measured through-ball, and Ian Taylor provided the finish as he held off Phil Neville with ease.

Juan Pablo Angel was adjudged to be not interfering with play as he raced back but United had far more to worry about two minutes later. This time, it was Phil Neville's embarrassing error which cost them as he headed past the stand-in keeper Roy Carroll while under little pressure from Taylor as they chased Merson's lobbed through-ball.

No sooner had the 2001 Christmas video compilation of defensive blunders been completed, than United had started work on the 2002 version. On came Van Nistelrooy to replace Chadwick but Angel came close to converting a cross by Darius Vassell and it looked all over for United.

Ferguson's side were back in the game when Solskjaer muscled his way past Olof Mellberg as he raced onto Mikael Silvrestre's through-ball to finish under Schmeichel's body.

Cue the Van Nistelrooy show. First the Dutchman swivelled onto Beckham's knock-down as he held off Staunton to put his side level. Then he capitalised on Solskjaer's ball to go round Schmeichel and finish with aplomb.

Ferguson angrily urged his team's fans back into the stands while Poll warned that any further repeat would lead to him taking the teams off. The fans instead waited until the final whistle to invade the pitch again and, while good-natured even though Beckham was submerged, it was stupid enough to cast a cloud on the occasion.

But not to take the shine away from Van Nistelrooy's brilliance or United determination. Is there truly no comeback beyond this side?

Ferguson's interest in West Ham's Paolo Di Canio, meanwhile, has been rebuffed by West Ham manager Glenn Roeder. He insisted the ball is firmly in United's court.

Roeder revealed the club had received a bid for the 33-year-old Italian from United on Friday which the club rejected. "Very late on Friday afternoon we did receive a faxed offer from Manchester United for the services of Paolo Di Canio, but we turned it down. We sent a fax back to say we couldn't accept their offer."

ASTON VILLA: Schmeichel, Wright (Stone 86), Mellberg, Staunton, Samuel, Hendrie, Merson (Hadji 85), Taylor, Boateng (Barry 86), Angel, Vassell. Subs Not Used: Delaney, Enckelman. Booked: Vassell. Goals: Taylor 51, Phil Neville 53 o.g.

MANCHESTER UTD: Carroll, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Blanc, Silvestre, Beckham, Butt (Chadwick 26), Keane, Veron, Scholes, Solskjaer, Chadwick (Van Nistelrooy 56). Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Stewart, O'Shea. Booked: Blanc. Goals: Solskjaer 77, Van Nistelrooy 80, 82.

Referee: G Poll (Tring).