And it proved a useful run out for Mark Hughes’ men against fitter opposition as the Manager continues to assess the squad he first took charge of just over a week ago.
The game itself ended 0-0 with the best chance of the match coming after just two minutes as Darius Vassell got up well at the back post to head Michael Ball’s cross against the post.
From then on chances were at a premium as Mark Hughes made 10 changes during the match, one of which was to give exciting winger Vladimir Weiss a first taster of action with the senior squad.
The Manager will have also been pleased to see Micah Richards and Nedum Onuoha come through their first game back from long term injury as the pair played for 77 minutes.
After the game fellow defender Michael Ball told mcfc.co.uk: “You could see in the first five minutes that they were quite sharp and that was a very good test for us.
“It’s good that we’ve had a chance early in the pre-season to get a competitive match under our belts as we prepare for the UEFA Cup tie in the Faroe Islands next week.”
City’s team for the game was:
Hart(Schmeichel 46), Onuoha (Mee 77), Richards (Williamson 77), Dunne (Garrido 55), Ball (Logan 55), Petrov (Weiss 65), Johnson, Hamann (Ireland 46), Vassell (M.Mills 77), Bianchi (Castillo 65), Corradi (Evans 46).
