great to see ruud score twice.
so too scholes and mainly kleberson.
it would have been better if either of richardson or rossi would have sparked
Pre-Season Preparations Begin With Convincing Win
Pre-Season Friendly
Clyde 1
Manchester United 5
Broadwood Stadium, Clyde
Manchester United fielded two completely different sides, one in each half, as they got the pre-season off to a winning start against Scottish Second Division club Clyde at Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld on Saturday afternoon.
Seeing twenty-two of United’s top players was an unexpected bonus for the 8,000 sell-out crowd and they were treated to a fine show from the Reds as they began to wind themselves up for the challenges which lay-ahead. United are barely three weeks away from the what could be a tricky Champions League qualifier and so they needed to hit the ground running, and that’s just what they did.
United took a little time to click into gear, but in the end they were far too strong for the Scottish outfit, managed by former Spurs’ stalwart Graham Roberts.
Giuseppe Rossi was the first United player to try his luck in front of goal with a 13th minute angled drive which flew past the far post.
Less than sixty seconds later and United should have been in front when Kleberson found himself in a great position to score but he blazed his shot over the crossbar.
The Brazilian international eventually put United into the lead, in the 31st minute, when he snapped up a rebound after Louis Saha’s shot had been pushed away by Peter Cherrie, Clyde’s impressive keeper. New signing Park Ji-sung was also involved in the build-up to the goal.
The Reds’ completely re-hashed second half line-up took just three minutes to increase the lead with three of the club’s biggest-names involved in the move. Ryan Giggs found Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was challenged in the area, but the ball ran to Paul Scholes who made no mistake with a low angled shot.
Clyde were almost gifted a goal in the 50th minute when Mikael Silvestre’s poor back-pass very nearly let in centre forward Gary Arbuckle, but the combined efforts of Tim Howard and John O’Shea recovered the situation.
Van Nistelrooy grabbed United’s third goal from the penalty spot in the 58th minute after being fouled by Clyde’s stranded goalkeeper.
Neil McGregor pulled one back for the Scottish side, in the 77th minute, after Stewart Masterton’s corner had caused confusion in the United penalty area, but their joy was to be short-lived. Less than a minute later and Liam Miller restored the three-goal margin after taking a short pass from van Nistelrooy.
United competed a highly satisfactory run out in the 85th minute when van Nistelrooy ran on to a measured Rooney through-ball to score his second, and United’s fifth, of the game.
CLYDE: Cherrie; McGregor, Malone, Higgins, McKeown, McHale, Bryson, O’Donnell, Arbuckle, Hunter, Bouadjr.
Substitutes: Bradley, McGowan, Dick, Hilland, Masterton, Brawley, Hutchinson, Miller. Stirling.
MANCHESTER UNITED (First half): Van der Sar; McShane, Richardson, Pique, Ferdinand, Fletcher, Jones, Kleberson, Rossi, Saha, Park.
MANCHESTER UNITED (Second half): Howard; Bardsley, Eckersley, Smith, O’Shea, Silvestre, Miller, Rooney, Scholes, van Nistelrooy, Giggs.