Red Devils gain early edge

Manchester United has taken the honours in the first of three meetings in a month with Portsmouth.

Chris Eagles and Carlos Tevez did the damage for the English and European champions in a friendly against the FA Cup winners in Nigeria.

Both sides will expect improvement when they meet again in the Community Shield on August 10 and, more importantly still, the English Premier League two weeks after that.

With both sides in action 24 hours ago, there was little surprise in Sir Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp making wholesale changes.

Only Tomasz Kuszczak, Michael Carrick and Nemanja Vidic kept their places for United, with Wayne Rooney giving way to a dead leg and Rio Ferdinand returning home to be with his pregnant wife.

Portsmouth opened with a stronger-looking starting line-up but Redknapp was making worrying changes before half-time as both Noe Paramot and John Utaka were forced off.

The twin setback hardly helped Pompey get any rhythm into their game, although they were mostly second-best anyway.

There were a few glimpses of an emerging partnership between new-boy Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe but with Vidic and Jonny Evans performing well at the back, United's goal was never seriously breached.

Frazier Campbell's pace seemed to catch the Pompey defence out but while David James had the sense to pull out of his intended challenge, Glen Johnson did not and he clattered into the United man to concede a needless penalty.

Tevez's first attempt nestled neatly in the bottom corner. But the retake, ordered after referee Emmanuel Emire had caught Eagles encroaching, came crashing back off the crossbar.

It began a succession of missed chances for the Red Devils.

The first goal came and was somewhat scrappy, Pompey somehow failing to take a number of opportunities to make a routine clearance inside their penalty area.

Eagles though finished in clinical fashion, the undoubted high point of a 78-minute outing for the Watford-born player.

Tevez trumped him by driving into the box before unleashing a thunderous shot that gave James no chance.

Defoe halved the deficit in the final minute

Elsewhere, Birmingham continued its unbeaten run in pre-season with a 1-0 victory over Blue Square Premier outfit Forest Green Rovers at The New Lawn.

Scotland international Garry O'Connor gave the Coca-Cola Championship side the win with a neat finish in the 87th minute of the game.

A youthful Watford XI recorded a 2-0 win over British Gas Southern Football League Division One South and West side Winchester City.

French defender Cedric Avinel broke the deadlock for the Hornets with a powerful header in the 18th minute.

Teenage striker Theo Robinson added a second in the 34th minute when he drilled the ball home after some clever build-up.

Swansea midfielder Andrea Orlandi warmed up for his return to Barcelona B tomorrow with a superb winner against Palamos, which plays in the four tier of Spanish football.

The versatile attacker scored the only goal of the game two minutes after the half-time break at the Estadi Municipal de Palamos with a fine strike from a tight angle.

European Friendlies

Portsmouth 1
(Defoe 90)
Manchester United 2
(Eagles 51, Tevez 64)

Forest Green 0
Birmingham 1
(O’Connor 87)

Borussia Dortmund 1
(Kruska 78)
Juventus 3
(Amauri 5, Iaquinta 51, 75)

FC Utrecht 2
(Gun 41, Vandenbergh 50)
Xanthi Skoda
(Radzinski 48)

Duisberg 1
(Wagner 79)
Club Brugge 0

Lorient 0
Bordeaux 1
(Gourcuff 17)

LASK Linz 2
(Saurer 14, Mijatovic 90)
Real Madrid 3
(Robben 20, Raul 45, Saviola 84)

Palamos 0
Swansea 1
(Orlandi 47)