Aston Villa edged a scruffy pre-season showing against Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday, winning 1-0 in the first match of the Barclays Asia Trophy.
A goal from Darren Bent sealed the contest for Villa early in the second half after a lofted cross from Barry Bannan from the right edge of the box.
Villa made the early running with promising play from Bannan.
The 21-year-old Scot showed some nice moves down the right flank as he tried to impress new manager Alex McLeish, who is looking to plug a gap left by the transfers of Stewart Downing and Ashley Young.
Bannan said he was pleased to get valuable minutes in the first team.
“It was hard work - I was happy getting 60-odd minutes on the pitch,” he said.
“When you’ve got players like Benty there, you just try to get involved. I put the ball in the right area and he finished it.”
The win puts Villa through to the final of the four-team tournament on Saturday, where they will face Chelsea.
The London club saw off Hong Kong champions Kitchee, with three second-half goals putting the gloss on a 4-0 win. Blackburn will play Kitchee for third place on Saturday.
Villa and Blackburn sweated through a goalless first half in front of a near-capacity crowd in the 40,000-seat Hong Kong Stadium, many of them dressed in Chelsea blue.
Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor posed the main threat early on, connecting well with right-back Luke Young and switching wings dangerously.
McLeish said Agbonlahor and Bent looked a powerful combination but he was still trying to decide whether to play Agbonlahor on the flanks or up front.
“He looked very threatening, he gets into some attacking positions,” McLeish said.
“We’d like to think we could play either Gaby or Benty together - they’re both England players - every week. But that won’t happen. It’s horses for courses, and a long season, and you can’t always play 4-4-2.”
Villa almost scored in the 24th minute when a Bannan cross ran through a crowd of bodies in the area to Stephen Warnock, but his scuffed shot was pushed away by French defender Gael Givet.
Blackburn midfielder Steven N’Zonzi saw the only yellow card of the game when he brought down Agbonlahor, who threatened to break through on Villa’s left flank.
Rovers manager Steve Kean gave Chris Samba the captain’s armband in the absence of Ryan Nelsen, who is still recovering from a knee operation.
The crowd had good reason to cheer in the 53rd minute, as Samba went on a marauding run before laying off nicely to Brett Emerton, but the Australian’s curled shot was tipped around the post.