United welcome newcomer

AS Manchester United bid farewell to legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a young Reds striker announced his arrival at Old Trafford on Saturday, writes Tony Bugby

Fraizer Campbell scored the matchwinning goal in a 1-0 victory against Spanish side Espanyol in Solskjaer’s testimonial which attracted a crowd of 68,868.

And young front man Campbell, who spent last season on loan at Hull City, showed the same coolness in front of goal that the Norwegian was renowned for when he found the net 126 times for the Reds.

Campbell struck the only goal of the game in the 82nd minute after Ryan Giggs put him away with a defence-splitting pass. He raced through and confidently lifted the ball over diving keeper Alvares Cristian.

Solskjaer, United’s new reserve-team manager and strikers’ coach, came on for the last quarter of the game and a final playing appearance to a defeaning roar.

And Solskjaer almost had a fairytale send-off as he was denied by a breathtaking save as Cristian acrobatically tipped over his goalbound effort.

United, who were without 10 senior players including virus victims Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick, created the better chances with Paul Scholes denied by an upright early on in what was a physical battle which saw five players booked including Carlos Tevez and Scholes.

CITY salvaged a 2-2 draw at Stockport County through Ched Evans’ 90th minute penalty in Saturday’s friendly.

Manager Mark Hughes played an entirely different starting line-up to the one which played EB/Streymur in the UEFA Cup two days earlier, but it was still a strong side.

New signing Tal Ben Haim made his debut, Rolando Bianchi won a place as did promising youngster Vladamir Weiss.

Anthony Pilkington fired Stockport ahead midway through the second half only for Valeri Bojinov to equalise in the 77th minute, four minutes after coming on as a substitute for his first competitive game for almost a year.

New Stockport striker Peter Thompson put his side back in front in the 86th minute only for Evans to have the last word as he was fouled and picked himself up to score from the spot.