MANCHESTER UNITED began their preparations for the new season with an unconvincing win over mid-table South African outfit AmaZulu in Durban.

Federico Macheda scored the only goal midway through the first half as United took the first steps in preparation for their bid to wrest back the English Premier League title they lost to Manchester City on the final day of last season.

An experimental United side looked short of their best, with goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard called on to make a couple of decent saves, while the hosts were only denied a penalty due to an offside flag.

Yet with four players in the United line-up who have yet to make their competitive debuts – and more introduced in the second half – perhaps a low-key outing was to be expected.

New boy Shinji Kagawa made a late appearance and Ferguson will expect a substantial improvement during United’s 22,000-mile pre-season campaign.

Macheda broke the deadlock when he collected Dimitar Berbatov’s pass and calmly scored.

Of the United youngsters on show, Warrington-born Jesse Lingard started well but faded and the experiment of converting Republic of Ireland Under-21 midfielder Robbie Brady into a left-back showed promise.

United now face Ajax Cape Town in Cape Town on Saturday.