ASTON VILLA plunged Manchester United and manager Alex Ferguson back into the depths of despair with a second-half goal-spree at Villa Park.

Villa struck three times in 22 minutes through lan Olney, David Platt and Kevin Gage to extend United's sequence without a win to six League games.

And Villa's fans in the 41,247 crowd the biggest of the season at Villa Park taunted Ferguson by chanting "Fergie. Fergie on the dole.”

United looked a shadow of the side which came so close to winning against Liverpool on Saturday and Villa goalkeeper Nigel Spink did not have a single worthwhile save to make.

After an uninspiring first half, Aston Villa ripped United's defence apart.

After 56 minutes, Olney squeezed the ball home from a narrow angle after the visitors had failed to clear a Gordon Cowans free kick.

Seven minutes later Tony Daley raced past Mike Phelan to release Platt, who shrugged off Garry Pallister's challenge before scoring his 14th goal of the season.

Twelve minutes from time Gage completed United's misery with a low drive after Daley and Platt had again wreaked havoc among Ferguson's flops.

Aston Villa manager Graham Taylor reserved most of his praise for Danish international defender Kent Nielsen, who completely snuffed out the threat of Mark Hughes. "The fans will go home talking about the performances of David Platt, Tony Daley and Gareth Williams but Nielsen gave us the stability and held the side together in the first half," said Taylor.