Man Utd 2 – 2 A Villa

Calum Chambers headed in a last-gasp equaliser as Manchester United squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Aston Villa.

Jadon Sancho scored his third goal of an impressive pre-season tour but after United dominated the first half, they were pegged back in the final minute.

Sancho’s latest strike capped a fine team goal in the 25th minute before Matty Cash turned into his own net on the stroke of half-time to put United in total control amid torrential rain in Perth.

However, Aston Villa rallied in the second period following a poor first-half display as substitute Leon Bailey inspired them to a comeback with a fine solo goal four minutes after the restart.

His excellent individual display, which saw him denied a second by a superb Harry Maguire block, paid dividends in injury time as his corner was headed in by Chambers.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Despite concerns over the pitch at the Optus Stadium following heavy rainfall in Perth, Man United started quickly with Maguire’s header from Luke Shaw’s corner pushed away by Emiliano Martínez.

Villa’s only chance of the half came from Cash’s low strike from 25 yards which went narrowly wide of David de Gea’s right-hand post.

United controlled proceedings as Sancho was denied his third goal of pre-season by a sharp save from Martinez, although he did not have to wait long to find the net.

Diego Dalot started the move on the right side, feeding Anthony Martial, who popped the ball off to Bruno Fernandes. The midfielder shifted it to Rashford on the left and he waited for Shaw’s overlapping run with the left-back crossing for Sancho to volley home.

Rashford, who has also looked revitalised under Ten Hag, then shot just wide before playing a key part in United’s second goal as the heavens opened. Sancho broke clear of the Villa defence and crossed for Rashford, whose off-target volley deflected in off the unfortunate Cash.

Villa did not register a shot on target during the first half, which led to Steven Gerrard making five changes at half-time. It had the desired impact as Ollie Watkins curled wide before substitute Bailey capitalised on poor defending from Victor Lindelof, who backed off and allowed the winger to curl an excellent low shot into the far corner.

United nearly regained their two-goal advantage as Sancho’s cross was turned towards his own goal by Ezri Konsa but substitute Robin Olsen did well to save.

Bailey was causing problems down the United left and nearly equalised as his shot from the edge of the box deflected off Martial. Then the 24-year-old Jamaica international was released in behind the United defence, rounded De Gea but saw his shot brilliantly blocked from going in by Maguire.

United made 10 changes with 20 minutes to play as Eric Bailly, Tyrell Malacia, Raphael Varane, Alex Telles, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Anthony Elanga, James Garner, Zidance Iqbal, Tahith Chong and Hannibal Mejri came on for Maguire, Lindelof, Shaw, Sancho, Dalot, Rashford, Donny van de Beek, Martial, Fred and Fernandes.

But their fresh legs on the torn-up pitch could not see out the victory as Bailey’s in-swinging corner was headed in by Chambers with the last touch of the match.

Ten Hag: We have to control games

Erik ten Hag speaking to MUTV:

“First half, decent performance. Two-nil up. Second half we came bad out of the dressing room. We had to control that game and we gave it away. That’s no good. That’s a lesson.

“From the players and the team we make a lot of progress [during the tour]. There are a lot of positive aspects [with the tour]. But in the end the season is not always about getting up [to speed], you will have setbacks you have to deal with.

“We played a different type of football against different systems and that will be the case against two Spanish teams [in United’s final two friendlies].

“We want to play proactive football, we want to play with initiative and attacking football. That’s what we’ve done today for long periods but in the end you have to control the game and that’s what we didn’t do.”

What’s next?

Manchester United take on Atletico Madrid in their penultimate pre-season friendly on Saturday July 30 at the Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo. Kick-off is at 12.45pm.

Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa head to France for their final pre-season match on Saturday July 30 to face Ligue 1 team Stade Rennais with a 5pm kick-off.