Manchester United 2 Perth Glory 0: Marcus Rashford and youngster James Garner ensure Red Devils are off to winning ways Down Under
MARCUS RASHFORD says he is ready for his best season yet and certainly showed in Perth he already has the bit between his teeth.
The 21-year-old England international believes that summer tournaments in his short career have not allowed him to have the sort of campaign for United he is capable of yet.
But having had a good rest this summer and what seemed like a lively holiday with teammate Jesse Lingard he is ready to go.
They will need him scoring 20 plus goals as well with Romelu Lukaku on his way and not a great goal threat elsewhere in the team.
Lukaku by the way was not in the squad because he had a slight knock.
Rashford has hit just 13 in each of the last two campaigns with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer trying to work on him being more of a poacher in the box.
His undoubted eye for goal, however, was evident with the way he took his goal to break the deadlock on the hour certainly showed the quality he had.
Latching onto a clever back heel from Paul Pogba he turned and fired a shot across the goalkeeper into the far bottom corner.
The second came from the less recognisable figure of 18-year-old James Garner who made his debut for the club last season.
His low drive from 20 yards into the bottom corner had all his teammates mobbing him.
Indeed it was a decent night for a number of the young United stars with which Solskjaer hopes to build the future.
The first half had been notable for the performances of new signing Daniel James and teenager Tahith Chong.
With so many established stars having let Solskjaer down in the latter half of last season the manager will not be afraid to give his young stars starts.
James, 21, the speedy winger bought from Swansea showed early in the first-half what we can expect next season.
Sharp, darting runs, getting in behind the defence, he will start the season.
Perth Glory were so concerned by him that they almost clattered him out the game with their tackles.
He was less effective when he switched from the left to the right midway late in the half.
In turn however, 19-year-old Chong was more effective when he came the other way.
The Dutchman is full of skill with his little touches and eye for an opening and having made four appearances last season he can expect more in the campaign to come.
In the second half it was 18-year-old attacking midfielder Angel Gomes who caught the eye.
Yet many of the same problems that dogged United in the final two months of last season were evident again here.
Perth Glory were not here to make up the numbers or been rolled over.
They acknowledged they were up against the better side but set-up to stop their opponents and did just that.
United struggled to finish enough moves off particularly in the first half.
Perth pushed them wide and filled the middle and United did not have an answer.
The closest they came to scoring in that first period was from the boot of Jesse Lingard whose long range shot on 29 minutes was expertly tipped over by Perth goalkeeper Liam Reddy.
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United changed all 11 players for the second half with the likes of Paul Pogba, Aaron Wan Bissaka and Rashford brought into the action.
Perth in turn would finish the game with two 15-year-old's on the pitch, with many of their players still on holiday.
The only injury concern for United on the night was the sight of Luke Shaw coming off late in the second half indicating he had a problem with his hamstring.
