United stroll, even without Scholes, in the Far East. Brum hit five in Germany. Derby split their side for lower league opponents and Reading give Lita his first run out of the summer. Get all the teams, scorers and details from the day’s friendlies here…
Shenzhen FC 0 Man United 6
United strolled through their lastet match on their tour of the Far East with six goals, including a debut goal for Nani. Giggs opened the scoring for United from a Rooney assist. Giggs then returned the favour just a few mintues later – Rooney chipping the keeper for the second. Giggs turned provider again, this time for debut boy Nani playing out on the right side of midfield. O’Shea and Ronaldo added further goals before Eagles hit a 35-yarder to finish the job. The performance of Giggs is perhaps the main point of interest to come from this match – clearly he’s enjoying his football still and could well be an early season source of points should United continue to play him in an attacking central role.
Man United Lineup: van der Sar (Kuszczak 45), Brown, Vidic (Ferdinand,45), Evans, Evra (Silvestre 59), Nani (Carrick 59), Fletcher, Gibson (O’Shea 45), Ronaldo (Eagles 59), Giggs (Smith 45), Rooney (Dong, 59)
FC Schweinfurt 05 2 Birmingham5
Birmingham ended their tour of Germany with a 5-goal victory. Forssell, already the scorer of 2 pre season goals, doubled his tally tonight. Cameron Jerome also hit a brace while McSheffrey scored his first pre-season effort as the competition for places in the Birmingham frontline heated up further. Birmingham are expected to add to their arsenal by sealing the deal for both Mido and Ghaly from Spurs later this week. McSheffrey then, seems set for a wide role, the position he held tonight. As suspected he also seems to have relinquished spot-kick duties with Forssell scoring from the spot tonight. That’s two penalties for Brum pre-season, neither taken by McSheffrey. Another point of interest – Larsson was employed as full-back tonight behind McSheffrey. Larsson is of course classified as a midfielder in all Fantasy Games this season.
Birmingham Lineup: Taylor (Doyle), D Johnson, Taylor, Jaidi, Larsson (Kilkenny), McSheffrey, Nafti (Danns), Muamba, Kapo (Aluko), Jerome (Vine), Forssell (O’Connor)
Burton Albion 0 Derby 3
Derby were up to their old tricks again – splitting their squad and playing two friendlies in one night – little use to us Fantasy Managers. They had trialists on show at both games – Olembe and Theodoridis ran out for Derby at this match, which Billy Davies’ side won comfortably thanks to goals from Theodoridis, Howard and debutant Robert Earnshaw. The Howard/Earnshaw partnership showing up well tonight – a preview of the likely strike duo come August 11.
Derby Lineup: Camp, Beardsley, Camara, Malcolm (Robertson 74), Jackson, Johnson (Dudley 70), Fagan, Olembe, Howard, Earnshaw, Theodoridis.
Macclesfield Town 1 Derby County 0
Over at Macclesfield meanwhile, Derby’s second side suffered a defeat with Svento and Okkaf making appearances as trialists.
Derby Lineup: Hinchliffe, Mears, McEveley, Richards, Addison, Todd (C), Teale, Okkas, Macken, Jones, Svento
Didcot 0 Reading 2
Reading fielded a side made up mainly of youth team players for tonights’ trip to Didcot although Lita did start the game up front. Karacan and a Didcot own goal won the game for Reading. Lita showed a few class touches in his first pre-season game, but was subbed on 58 minutes in preparation for Reading’s game at Brentford on Wednesday.
Reading Lineup: Hamer; Pearce, Golbourne, Mate (Spence 58), Sodje, Karacan (Sigurdsson 65), Bozanic, Henry (Williams 79), Robson-Kanu, Cox, Lita (Church 58)