Manchester United Vs Kitchee FC: Match Report

No-one was ever going to judge David Moyes too seriously on the basis of Manchester United’s pre-season results this summer. His aim, after all, is to rule England and Europe not conquer Bangkok and Tokyo.

Welbeck Scores The first Goal

But there was always bound to be more scrutiny on him than if certain other Scotsman was sat in the dugout, and one win from four games against limited opposition on tour had certainly raised a few eyebrows in the world of football. 

Here, however, on an airless and humid night in Hong Kong, and on a pitch that has understandably attracted its fair share of negative publicity, there was little chance of Moyes’s side slipping up again after opening up a four-goal lead early in the second half.

United are flying home straight after the game and it’s hard to gauge just what he has learned from this tour, other than the global popularity of his new club is off the scale compared to what he experienced over more than a decade at Everton.

The Wayne Rooney saga is still unresolved and there are still no new signings with the new season is just around the corner. United face AIK in Stockholm next week and then Sevilla in Rio Ferdinand’s testimonial before the Community Shield against Wigan on August 11.

At least they could reflect on a winning end to their tour of Australia and the Far East on the long flight back to Manchester.There was little hint of the seven goals to come in a quiet opening quarter of an hour until Anderson fired the first real shot in anger, swerving a left-foot effort just past the post.

It was the spark for a sudden burst of three United goals in the space of 10 minutes. Danny Welbeck got the first, steering the ball first-time into an empty net after Ashley Young’s half volley from a tight angle had rattled the post and rebounded fortuitously straight to the feet of the England striker who was unmarked 15 yards out.

United’s second arrived six minutes later after Daniel Rodriguez had blocked Young’s effort on the edge of the six-yard box. The corner was cleared but Tom Cleverley swung it back in from the right and found Chris Smalling whose towering header went in off goalkeeper Wang Zhenpeng’s fingertips and underside of the bar.

Wilfried Zaha, who should have scored himself after taking down Welbeck’s cross and somehow firing over from close-range, teed up the third for Fabio Da Silva who drilled a low shot through the legs of a defender and beyond the diving Zhenpeng. Two of three changes Moyes made at half-time saw Alex Buttner and Adnan Januzaj come on, and they combined to make it 4-0 to United five minutes after the restart. Buttner got free down the left and clipped the ball back for the unmarked Januzaj to guide a header just inside the right-hand post.

Fernando Comi played the ball through to Lam Ka Wai and United were guilty of not closing down the little No.10 quickly enough. He twisted outside Michael Carrick and let fly from 25 yards with a cracking shot into the top corner that gave Ben Amos little chance.

Alex Alkande raised hopes of an unlikely comeback, evading Buttner, Smalling and Michael Keane to slide a low shot past Amos. But Jesse Lingard had the final say 10 minutes from time, curling in a fine effort from the edge of the box to claim his fourth goal on tour.