Sunday Times:
It was not pretty, nor did it bode especially well for Manchester United's future, but what was in effect Sir Alex Ferguson's third team edged past his son Darren's Peterborough United yesterday. More importantly for Manchester United and England, Owen Hargreaves jogged through 45 second-half minutes and emerged unscathed.
From 12.30pm hundreds of fans had stationed themselves in the sun outside the main entrance of Peterborough United's trim stadium.
In an irony only their commercial manager would understand, on a day that attracted an attendance three times greater than the usual squadron of diehards who follow their team's attempt to escape the Football League's basement, the throng barred the way of customers at the club shop.
At 2.28pm, with the kick-off already delayed by 20 minutes, Manchester United finally arrived, but as the coach disgorged its cargo, those children with their replica Rooney and Ronaldo shirts would have been disappointed once they had noted only Owen Hargreaves, who began yesterday on the bench, and perhaps occasional first-teamer Gerard Pique, for this was not Manchester United, but a Manchester United XI.
Tom Heaton, Danny Simpson, Michael Lea and Ferguson's most-favoured of the inchoate bunch, Darron Gibson, passed by unknown by name but screamed at all the same. For Peterborough, who fielded their strongest available lineup, this was an opportunity for a tilt at the windmills of fleeting glory before Rochdale arrive on Saturday.
For United's pampered youngsters, if a large crowd and that screaming was a possible shape of things to come, the cramped ground, the basic facilities and the unremitting toil against honest journeymen was a warning of what might happen if careers do not go to plan and the youths do not graduate from an academy for which the production line that produced the Nevilles, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Paul Scholes in the 1980s and 90s seems a distant memory.
The Observer:
Owen Hargreaves finally made his Manchester United debut, in a comfortable 3-1 friendly win at League Two side Peterborough. The England international has been struggling to shake off an ankle injury since his £18million move from Bayern Munich, but played 45 minutes as a second-half substitute at London Road.
The Canada-born midfielder is unlikely to play any part in today's Community Shield against Chelsea at Wembley. Instead he will step up his rehabilitation programme in one of the midweek pre-season friendlies against Glentoran and Dunfermline.
Adam Eckersley gave a youthful United side a half-time lead against the team managed by Alex Ferguson's son, Darren. Ferguson junior looked to have pulled off a masterstroke when Rene Howe, a half-time substitute, equalised with a fine shot four minutes after the restart. But the visitors were always the stronger and they made their fitness tell later in the second half with goals from Ritchie Jones in the 72nd minute and a third from Dong Fangzhuo 10 minutes later.