Advertisement

Manchester United too classy for A-League's best

Danny Welbeck and Jesse Lingard both scored twice as English champions Manchester United got their first win of the David Moyes era with a 5-1 victory over an A-League All Stars team at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.

Prolific Dutch forward Robin van Persie, who missed the defeat in Thailand which opened United's tour last week, added the fifth in a 28-minute cameo appearance at the end of the match to send the red-clad majority in the 83,127 crowd home happy.

With Wilfried Zaha a constant menace down the flanks, Moyes will have been happy with his attack in the absence of unsettled striker Wayne Rooney, who left the tour to receive treatment on a hamstring injury.

The All Stars defended in depth to try to negate the pace in the United attack and carved out a few chances of their own. Besart Berisha scored their consolation goal early in the second half.

The first United goal came in the 11th minute and was made by a neat step over the ball from Welbeck which set Lingard through on goal, the 20-year-old calmly placing the ball to the right of Ante Covic for his first goal for United.

United doubled their lead in the 34th minute when Welbeck was put clear through and the England striker, who scored just two goals for United last season, steered the ball past Covic and into the net.

Berisha scored for the home side in the 52nd minute when the Albania striker found himself free on the edge of the box and scuffed his shot inside Anders Lindegaard's right-hand post.

United struck again two minutes later, however, when the impressive Lingard dragged the ball on to his right foot and smashed it into the top right-hand corner of the net.

Van Persie came on for Ryan Giggs after 62 minutes and eight minutes later swung in the corner from which Welbeck headed in his second goal of the match.

After a raft of substitutions, the match looked like fizzling out until Van Persie was played through in the 87th minute.

He made a hash of his first attempt to score but when the ball came to him again on the edge of the box, he made no mistake.