Jesper Blomqvist and Nicky Butt produced two stunning strikes to get Manchester United's pre-season tour of Australia and the Far East off to a winning start.
Blomqvist struck first with a rasping volley in stoppage time at the end of the first half against the Socceroos at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Butt's effort after 76 minutes was every bit as good as he cracked home a half volley from 25 yards.
Apart from the goals, United rarely moved out of first gear on the poor surface of the MCG. But they barely needed to against Australia, who were without nine regular members of their squad.
Henning Berg did crash a shot against the bar after 14 minutes following a goalmouth melee, while Mark Bosnich, who was making his first appearance since rejoining United, touched over a header from Danny Tiatto.
Tempers began to fray and David May cut down Aurelio Vidmar before Butt took a swipe at Brett Emerton.
Jonathan Greening, who started in midfield alongside Mark Wilson, missed a great chance for the Treble winners when he slotted his shot wide after racing clear.
The late tackles continued to fly in and the referee finally acted when he booked Ross Aloisi for chopping down Greening.
Then, just as it appeared the first half would end goalless, Blomqvist volleyed home leftfooted eight yards out from Phil Neville's beautifully-flighted ball.
Australia almost equalised on 58 minutes from a corner. Team captain Alex Tobin flicked on Ross Aloisi's inswinger to the back post where Vidmar headed over from close range.
Butt's goal was every bit as impressive as Blomqvist's. Neville was once again the provider when he fed Butt 25 yards out from goal and the England midfielder's half volley flew into the top corner giving Petkovic no chance.
As promised, United made several substitutions and John Curtis, Jordi Cruyff, Ryan Giggs, Jaap Stam, Wes Brown and Michael Clegg all came on. Meanwhile, the English FA claim no new proposals have been put forward to enable United to compete in next season's FA Cup.
FA executive director David Davies insisted following a meeting with fans that there was still no viable alternative to United pulling out of the competition.
Davies feels withdrawing from the FA Cup for one season is the only way United can compete in FIFA's World Team Championship in Brazil in January and so help England's 2006 World Cup bid.
He told fans that he would consider any suggestions they have, but he doubts that there is any other viable option.
"As Sir Alex Ferguson has always said, if there are any new and serious options they will have to be considered," said Davies.
"But none have been presented over the past fortnight that meet Manchester United's understandable concerns about fixture congestion in the latter part of the season."
Davies' assessment will disappoint the representatives from the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association (IMUSA), the Football Supporters Association and the National Federation of Football Supporters Clubs who met him yesterday and who believe an alternative must be found.
