Fergie satisfied with Smalling

Sir Alex Ferguson was pleased with Chris Smalling's first outing in a Manchester United shirt during the 3-1 win over Celtic.

Smalling linked up with United from Fulhamat the end of last season and was paired with Jonny Evans for the club's opening match of their pre-season tour of North America.

Although the centre-half conceded a penalty in the second half for a foul on Joe Ledley, his performance drew praise from his manager.

Ferguson said: "I was pleased with Chris. We know he is good footballer, we know he is quick and is a good passer of the ball.

"There was a period after half-time when he had two fantastic headers with great purpose and showed his aerial ability.

"He got caught a little bit with the penalty kick. The player ran from his blind side in behind him. But he is only young, he is only 20."

With Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic not on the tour, Smalling and Evans were given the chance to impress and the Northern Ireland international was happy to play alongside his new team-mate.

Evans said: "It was good to play alongside Chris - we just tried to keep things simple between us.

"He is a great lad, he has trained hard and hopefully he can do well for us."