David Moyes made a losing start as manager of Manchester United who were beaten 1-0 by Thai side Singha in the opening match of their tour of the Far East and Australia.
There were mitigating circumstances, however, as the Reds lacked firepower with Robin van Persie, Javier Hernandez and Wayne Rooney all missing along with other key personnel.
It was also the start of United’s pre-season build up with their Thai opponents are in the middle of their campaign.
They lost to a 49th minute goal from Teeratep Winothai which took a deflection off Rio Ferdinand.
United were lucky to be on level terms until then and only because of a series of important saves from Ben Amos.
They almost equalised late on when new-boy Wilfried Zaha, who came on for Ryan Giggs, struck an upright.
“It wasn’t a brilliant result, but we kept going and it was a brilliant workout because it was very warm,” explained Moyes who added his side was short of attacking options.