KUALA LUMPUR - MICHAEL Owen got his Manchester United career off to a flyer on Saturday when he scored the winner on his debut as the Premier League champions struggled past a Malaysian XI 3-2.

The former Newcastle and England striker, who moved to Old Trafford on a free transfer this month, came on as a substitute for Wayne Rooney after 60 minutes with the score at 2-2 and made the most of his chance.

Wearing the club's famous number seven shirt, he pounced with five minutes left, picking up the ball just inside the box and rounding the goalkeeper before planting a right foot shot into the net. It dug United out of a hole after they let a two goal lead, courtesy of Rooney and Nani, slip.

Goalkeeping errors let the home team back in the game, with Amri Yahyah capitalising both times.

'At 2-0 we were in a very nice position but the goal they got galvanised them and they gave us a real battle,' admitted United coach Sir Alex Ferguson.

'But I'm happy with what we did, it was out first game and we needed that type of game to get us going.'

He added that the winning goal was a typical Owen strike and one that didn't surprise him.

'It was a typical Michael Owen goal. When Ryan (Giggs) went through the first man to react was Owen. It was a good start for him.'

Ferguson brought a 22-man squad to Asia and said ahead of the game he would start with his best 11 - and it didn't include Owen. Instead, Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov led the attack with the promising Darron Gibson wide on the right and Nani on the left.

Paul Scholes and Anderson were in the middle while Rio Ferdinand took the captain's armband ahead of Gary Neville. Joining him in defence was Patrice Evra, Johnny Evans and John O'Shea, with Edwin Van Der Sar in goal. -- AFP