Football: United rolledover by Swiss : David McKinney reports on a night of real drama at Ibrox

MANCHESTER UNITED and Newcastle kept the drama going right to the end of the first day of Rangers' international tournament with the latter progressing to today's final by winning 6-5 on penalties after last night's 1-1 draw.

Newcastle's recently signed Swiss defender, Marc Hottiger, slammed the winning penalty past Peter Schmeichel to earn a place in the final against the Italian club, Sampdoria, while the anticipated final between Rangers and Manchester United, the Scottish and English champions respectively, is nothing more than a consolation match.

While Newcastle and United attempted to entertain the crowd of just over 27,000 there was evidence that some fine-tuning needsto be done before the start of the season. Eric Cantona may have produced a moment of genius but in Ruel Fox Newcastle had the outstanding performer.

His pace and speed of thought marked him as the likeliest goalscorer and after 19 minutes he produced a goal out of nothing, scoring with a powerful shot from the edge of the area.

United created the better chances. Cantona skipped clear of the defence but his impish flick over Pavel Srnicek came back off the bar; Mark Hughes danced past a couple of defenders before chipping wide and Paul Ince struck the bar.

Earlier Rangers had conceeded a two-goal lead in losing 4-2 to Sampdoria.

Manchester United (4-4-2): Schmeichel; May, Bruce, Pallister, Sharpe; Gillespie, McClair, Ince, Giggs; Cantona, Hughes (Davies, 78).

Newcastle United (4-4-2): Srnicek; Hottiger, Venison, Peacock, Beresford; Fox, Watson, Elliott, Guppy (Drysdale, 62); Beardsley, Cole.

Referee: J J Timmons (Kilwinning).