Originally Posted by BBC Sport

Man Utd claim Shield on penalties


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Manchester United needed a penalty shoot-out to capture the Community Shield despite producing a dominant display against Portsmouth at Wembley.

Pompey failed to score three of their four spot-kicks to hand victory to Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

United had completely controlled the game but wasted a series of chances.

Darren Fletcher somehow failed to turn in Nani's cross and had a lob turned on to the bar by David James, who also denied Carlos Tevez with a superb stop.

Ferguson has made signing a new striker his priority as his side prepare to open the defence of their Premier League title against Newcastle on 17 August and, on this evidence, it is clear why.

With last season's 42-goal top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo out injured for at least another month and Wayne Rooney doubtful to face the Magpies because of a virus, Ferguson is short of options up front.

Against Portsmouth, he chose Ryan Giggs as the man to partner Carlos Tevez in attack but the Welshman had a limited impact in attack.

And the number of chances that United created but frittered away will reinforce Ferguson's belief he needs to make a goalscorer his first summer signing.

Portuguese winger Nani was behind most of United's best moments as they ripped through the Pompey defence, seemingly at will, but an end product was too often nowhere to be seen.

Nani's pace worried the Pompey defence early on, with Sol Campbell and Glen Johnson in particular looking sluggish, and as the first half wore on, United looked more and more threatening.

James did enough to put off Nemanja Vidic as he rose to meet a free-kick and the veteran goalkeeper also denied Giggs twice in quick succession.

Another glorious chance came and went when Nani stole possession from Glen Johnson and crossed for Fletcher, who was unmarked in the middle but failed to connect with his shot and knocked the ball away from goal with his second.

By now, Campbell was having a torrid time and he was embarrassed again when Nani cleverly chipped him and also clipped the ball over James before Sylvain Distin cleared the danger.

Pompey had created next to nothing in the first half, with their £18.5m partnership of Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe barely having a sniff of the ball, let alone a meaningful chance.

And United stayed well on top in the second half with Ferguson's side continuing to pour forward.

Fletcher almost made amends for his earlier miss when he picked up James' punched clearance and lobbed the ball goalwards only to see the keeper somehow recover to turn the ball on to the crossbar.

Giggs was the next player to waste an opportunity when he scuffed his shot in front of goal, before James produced another wonder-stop to push Tevez's curling effort around the post.

Portsmouth were fortunate again soon after when Hermann Hreidarsson grabbed the Argentine's leg and hauled him down in the area but referee Peter Walton ignored the challenge and missed Tevez's reaction - which saw him grab the defender by the neck.

It took 76 minutes for Harry Redknapp's side to muster a shot on target - a looping effort by substitute John Utaka that was an easy catch for Edwin van der Sar.

Pompey were still able to take the game to a penalty shootout but even then they failed to get going.

Lassana Diarra set the precedent when he blasted their first spot-kick high into the stands and, although Defoe scored his effort, Arnold Mvuemba saw his shot saved before Johnson missed to hand United victory on a plate.

Tevez, Giggs and Michael Carrick made no mistake for United who pick up the first piece of silverware of the season.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville (Brown 66), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, O'Shea (Carrick 66), Scholes, Giggs, Nani (Campbell 79), Tevez.
Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Evans, Possebon, Da Silva.

Booked: Vidic, Neville.

Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson (Lauren 79), Diop, Pedro Mendes (Mvuemba 75), Diarra, Kranjcar (Utaka 60), Crouch, Defoe.
Subs Not Used: Ashdown, Sahar, Cranie, Traore.

Booked: Distin.

Att: 84,808

Ref: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire).