Football: Martial on a roll as United beat Palace 3-1 in Melbourne

MELBOURNE (AFP) - New manager Erik ten Hag said his players' belief was improving after Anthony Martial scored his third goal in three games as a slick Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 3-1 on Tuesday (July 19).

In front of 76,500 fans at Melbourne Cricket Ground, French forward Martial struck in the first half while Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho both collected their second goals of the pre-season tour after the restart.

Joel Ward pulled one back for Palace, but they were always chasing a game that saw United reduced to 10 men in the dying minutes after Will Fish was sent off for a deliberate foul.

The friendly victory was Ten Hag's third since taking over after their 4-0 thumping of Liverpool in Bangkok and a 4-1 win over Melbourne Victory.

In contrast, it was a second straight defeat for Patrick Vieira's young Palace side, who crashed 2-0 to Liverpool in Singapore on Friday.

"We are happy with the improvement we are seeing, but there is also a lot of work to do," said ten Hag.

"We did score some wonderful goals, that's true. We played well and the belief is increasing," he added while praising his forwards in particular.

"They did a lot of running, a lot of work. They have a lot of energy and were rewarded by scoring goals."

The Dutchman is beginning to stamp his mark on the Old Trafford side, with his team - who finished a disappointing sixth last season in the English Premier League - producing some fluid, one-touch football.

Goalkeeper David de Gea returned after missing the Victory game with a niggle.

New left-back Tyrell Malacia began ahead of Luke Shaw, while Rashford was back in the starting line-up after scoring as a substitute against Victory, partnering Sancho and a rejuvenated Martial in Cristiano Ronaldo's absence.

Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez, ten Hag's other new signings, are not in Australia.

Vieira has a youthful squad in Australia, with a number of senior players not making the trip due to fitness concerns, while others did not meet entry requirements for Singapore or Australia when travel arrangements were made.

United made a confident start, dominating early possession, with Palace goalkeeper Jack Butland making a fine stop from Martial after Brazilian Fred's pass split the defence.

But the save ended Butland's game, forcing him to leave the pitch after treatment on his hand.

The 26-year-old Martial - whose career at United looked over after spending the end of last season on loan at Sevilla - got the breakthrough seven minutes later.

He chested down a wonderful floating delivery from Diogo Dalot to fire past Palace's third-choice goalkeeper Remi Matthews after a well-worked move.

United were hungry for goals, creating plenty of opportunities with Harry Maguire and Rashford both going close.

Against Liverpool and Victory, ten Hag made wholesale changes at half-time, but this time he made just one, with Donny van de Beek on for Scott McTominay.

Van de Beek was involved in the second goal, with a sublime team move finished by Rashford tapping into an empty net.

Sancho got the third soon after on a counter-attack with Martial providing the through-ball.

United head to Perth next to play Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa, who beat Leeds 1-0 to kick-start their pre-season. Palace also travel to Perth, to face Leeds.