Fergie pleased with opener

Sir Alex Ferguson expressed his delight after seeing Manchester United begin their pre-season preparations with a 3-1 win over Celtic.

The Red Devils, who are currently on a summer tour of North America, prevailed at Toronto's Rogers Centre courtesy of goals from Dimitar Berbatov, Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley.

Georgios Samaras had hauled Celtic level from the penalty spot, following Berbatov's first half opener, but United finished much the stronger and saw two of their substitutes wrap up a comfortable success.

Ferguson was pleased to see his side hit the ground running and believes the hard work they have put in over recent weeks will stand them in good stead once the new Premier League season gets under way in August.

He said: "The first game is one you want to get out of the road because fitness comes into it, as does the time you give to your players. I was pleased as some of the performances were good.

"We try to get the preparation to a point where they want to want to start playing games. There was a little bit of boredom in the training yesterday.

"They had seven days at Carrington, four days in Chicago; they were desperate for a game. The one thing pre-season brings on is the desire to start playing games.

"No-one likes pre-season. It does not matter how good it is. Nobody enjoys it because it is rough and tough. It is the hard bit of the game. Thankfully we are on that route of playing."

Celtic boss Neil Lennon was also full of praise for his players despite seeing the Hoops slip to a second successive tour defeat, following Wednesday's setback against Philadelphia Union.

He said: "It was really pleasing tonight. I thought the level of performance was excellent. There were a number of positives to take out of the game.

"There was a lot of good football played out there and the players enjoyed the atmosphere and the experience.

"The second goal came probably after our best spell in the game. I was really pleased with the response of the players, particularly in the second half. Samaras made a difference when he came on."