Rio Ferdinand backs Evans and Cathcart at Manchester United

Rio Ferdinand has revealed Manchester United’s future is in safe hands thanks to Northern Ireland duo Jonny Evans and Craig Cathcart.

While Evans won wide acclaim for his displays in the heart of the Old Trafford defence last season, Cathcart spent much of the campaign on loan at Plymouth Argyle to gain vital first-team experience.

Only injury prevented the 20-year old from making his international debut against Italy in June but Sir Alex Ferguson handed him his first start for the Premier League champions during the Audi Cup in Munich and he took the opportunity with both hands against Boca Juniors and Bayern Munich.

The Belfast man shone following injuries to Wes Brown and Nemanja Vidic and will now push to follow in Evans’ footsteps to become a regular in the United squad.

Unfortunately for Evans, he missed a decisive penalty in a 7-6 shoot-out defeat in the final against Bayern, but Ferdinand is confident that the Ulstermen can eventually replace himself and Vidic as the regular centre-back pairing.

“We’ve got two young lads who are more or less playing in the first team and I think they have very big futures ahead of them,” said Ferdinand.

“Jonny has played a good few games now and has looked comfortable and assured.

“Craig has joined us in Germany and I think he has surprised a few people by how well he has done.

“I think everyone knew he had the potential to be a very good player but against Boca Juniors in particular, he confirmed he is player of real potential at Manchester United.”

Milk Cup: Manchester United too sharp for Blades

Manchester United made their own little bit of history on two counts as they retained the Premier Section of the Milk Cup last night in Coleraine.

They recorded a 2-1 victory over Sheffield United to become the only club to win back-to-back Premier titles.

It now leaves them on four trophies overall, which is again unsurpassed at that level in the Milk Cup’s 27 year history.

United boss Paul McGuiness said: “It’s a really good achievement and quite a lot of the boys can come back next year, so maybe they can make it three in a row.”

The young Red Devils had started the week on fire in the group stages, but required a penalty shoot-out to progress past Desportivo Brasil, before edging past 10-men Fenerbahce with a late strike from top scorer Robert Brady in Thursday’s semi-final.

Last night’s game was a tight affair at the Showgrounds, with Sheffield United pushing the Old Trafford stars, but the young Red Devils certainly deserved their win in the end.

It was the Blades who threatened first in the game when midfielder Shane Murray turned and fired a warning effort across the face of Sam Johnstone’s goal.

However, they fell behind when fine work from Brady allowed him to feed Michael Ngoo, who slid the ball home for his second goal of the tournament.

Ngoo then wasted a glorious chance to double his and his side’s tally when he received a delightful chipped throughball from William Keane, but fluffed his lines in front of goal.

United wrapped up proceedings in the second half with a goal from Norwegian midfielder Etzaz Hussain after some slick football on 52 minutes.

Scorer of the first goal Ngoo took the ball to the byline before delivering a clever flick into the path of Hussain to slide past goalkeeper Andrew.

Tempers threatened to boil over after a tackle from Ryan Tunnicliffe on Elliott Whitehouse earned the United midfielder a yellow card.

Sheffield grabbed a deserved consolation when he poked the ball home from inside the six yard box, a minute into stoppage time.

The win for Manchester United also completed a clean sweep for the competition with last year's winners all returning to defend their trophies as Everton, Northern Ireland and United all reigning once more.

PREMIER RESULTS: Milk Cup final: Manchester United 2 Sheffield United 1.

Slemish final: Co Antrim 1 Co Londonderry 2.

Dunluce Trophy League: Cantolao 0 Co Fermanagh 2, Burnley 1 Co Tyrone 2.

Slemish play-offs: Cruz Azul 0 Trudovye Rezervy 0 (Trudovye win 4-3 on penalties), Otago 1 Watford 3, Co Armagh 1 Shamrock Rovers 2.

Milk Cup play-offs: Co Down 0 Desportivo Brasil 3, Cherry Orchard 1 South Coast Bayern 1 (Cheery Orchard win 4-3 on penalties), Fenerbahce 1 FC Porto 0.

Sir Alex Ferguson sets Manchester United target of 100 goals

Sir Alex Ferguson has set his Manchester United strike force a target of 100 goals this season as the Premier League champions adjust to life without Cristiano Ronaldo.

United scored 99 times last season with the Portuguese attacker, sold for £80m to Real Madrid at the start of the summer, contributing 26 of those strikes.

Ferguson says the club will have to change tactics and he wants his midfielders and defenders to contribute to the tally. "Obviously Cristiano is a big loss in terms of the goals he gave us," he said. "But we will just have to find the goals from somewhere else and our tactics will adjust accordingly. Fans will see us playing a slightly different style of football this season.

"Usually you look to score about 100 goals in all competitions, so we are aiming for that again. If we are going to win the league again or do well in Europe we certainly need players to step up.

"Going back a few years, we could always guarantee goals from Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham, who always pitched in with about 10 a season.

"Those goals from midfield have dried up a little in recent years, so we have to address that. I will be looking to [Ji-Sung] Park, Nani, [new sigining Luis Antonio] Valencia – even [Danny] Welbeck and [Federico] Macheda – to contribute 40 goals between them. The defenders will contribute a few from set-pieces, too."

Ferguson added in an interview with Inside United magazine: "Wayne Rooney's capable of scoring 18 or more a season and Michael Owen can get us 15 goals."