Friendlies round-up (original) (raw)

Stoke City and West Ham had to settle for draws, while West Bromwich Albion overcame Nottingham Forest.

Baggies beat Forest as Stoke are held in Germany

Stoke City and West Ham had to settle for draws, while West Bromwich Albion overcame Nottingham Forest.Stoke were held to a 1-1 drew by Greuther Furth in Germany despite Michael Kightly making an instant impact with a goal. Kightly finished from a narrow angle after Marc Wilson's long ball was flicked on by Peter Crouch to give the Potters the lead inside five minutes. But Tobias Mikkelsen forced a fine save from Asmir Begovic and the hosts were denied an equaliser by an offside flag and then by Matthew Upson's intervention. Upson was to blame, though, for the equaliser when his foul at a corner allowed Bernd Nehrig to fire home a penalty. Ryan Shotton hit a post and Stoke's second debutant, Geoff Cameron, went close with a free-kick before Ilir Azemi wasted a late chance to win it for the Bundesliga newcomers.West Brom enjoyed a routine 2-0 win over Championship side Nottingham Forest. Youssouf Mulumbu set them on their way with a 25-yard drive in the eighth minute and Shane Long added a penalty in the 18th after being fouled by Danny Collins. The Baggies had a third goal disallowed for offside in a rare moment of note in a second half disrupted by constant substitutions, with Forest giving an outing to former Sheffield United full-back Andrew Taylor as a trialist. Winston Reid's late goal earned West Ham a 1-1 draw in a feisty game at Braga's spectacular A Pedreira ground - the name means "The Quarry", due to the rock-face behind one goal. Mark Noble's deflected free-kick clipped the post before Braga took the lead with a Paulo Vinicius penalty after a handball by James Collins. Curiously, the hosts emerged in their away kit for the second half - and it proved unlucky, as substitute Baiano had a goal disallowed before Reid poked home the equaliser after James Tomkins met Matthew Taylor's corner.

Red Devils undone

Manchester United fielded a youthful side as they went down 2-0 against Peterborough United in a pre-season friendly at London Road. George Boyd and former Old Trafford youngster Nicky Ajose grabbed the goals for Peterborough, who open their campaign against Southend in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday. Boyd's opener was a stunning effort from 25 yards just past the hour mark, while Ajose finished calmly after being set up by a clever pass from Paul Taylor. The Red Devils did carry an attacking threat but Nick Powell's ambitious early shot flew wide, while lone striker Federico Macheda failed to trouble substitute keeper Joe Day late on. Bolton came from behind to secure an entertaining 2-2 draw against a Barcelona B team at the Reebok Stadium. There was little action of note in the first 45 minutes but the pre-season friendly came to life with four goals in the space of 18 second-half minutes. Barcelona's Lobato broke the deadlock with a sweet left-foot strike that found the net ten minutes after the interval. But Bolton equalised when Martin Petrov whipped over a cross that was turned into his own goal by the unlucky Sergi Gomez. A tidy far post finish from full-back Balliu put the Catalan visitors 2-1 ahead, but Marvin Sordell's close-range header on 73 minutes gave the home side a fully deserved draw.