On 28 February 2010 Dowd refereed the League Cup final between Manchester United and Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium. In the fifth minute of the match, Dowd deemed Manchester United's Nemanja Vidić to have fouled Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor in the penalty area. Whilst Dowd did award Villa a penalty kick, he elected not to punish Vidić; some commentators felt the offence qualified as a professional foul and therefore warranted a red card. United overturned Villa's early penalty to ultimately win the match, and trophy, 2–1.