JOSE MOURINHO’S first game as manager of Manchester United ended in a short trip and comfortable 2-0 victory over newly-promoted Championship side Wigan Athletic at their DW Stadium on Saturday.

    Goals early in the second half from Will Keane and Andreas Pereira secured victory for United, which parted company with former manager Louis van Gaal after winning the FA Cup on their last competitive outing two months ago.

    It was a weakened United line-up at the disposal of their new manager given that 14 players who represented their countries in the European Championships and Copa America this summer were unavailable and have yet to return to training.

    Nevertheless, it is a sign of the strength in depth that Mourinho will have at his call this season that the starting lineup he selected still boasted summer signings Eric Bailly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and England left-back Luke Shaw, returning after 10 months out of action with a broken leg.

    The game, arranged at short notice to give Mournho extra competition prior to his team leaving for a tour of China, was predictably low-key.

    But it still represented a winning start to his reign as United manager as the 5,500 United supporters in attendance welcomed him by chanting his name within the opening minute.

    The victory will doubtless have pleased their manager even if the opening goal was a gift from veteran Wigan goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen who made an appalling clearance directly to Juan Mata who squared for Keane to convert after 48 minutes.

    Ten minutes later, United players doubled their advantage with a goal that clearly owed much to the work put in by Mourinho in his first week on the training ground with his new charges.

    A well-worked free-kick saw Mata pick out Ander Herrera in the Wigan penalty area and, after his shot was blocked, Brazilian Pereira was handed the simple opportunity to sweep the ball in from a dozen meters.

    (SD-Agencies)