LONDON, July 22: Draws were the order of the day as a number of English Premier League sides were held to stalemates in their respective pre-season friendlies on Saturday.

Brendan Rodgers’s first game as manager of Liverpool ended in a 1-1 draw against FC Toronto thanks to Adam Morgan’s equaliser for the English giants in a World Football Challenge friendly.

Quincy Amarikwa opened the scoring for Toronto in the 58th minute before Morgan tapped a shot past Quillan Roberts from a yard out, taking advantage of a fine run by Raheem Sterling and salvaging the draw for Liverpool in the opening match of their pre-season North American tour.

In Cape Town, substitute Bebe scored two minutes into stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 draw for Manchester United at Ajax Cape Town in the second match of a pre-season world tour.

The Portuguese winger arrived at the far post to finish powerfully from a Marnick Vermijl cross at Cape Town Stadium in a game that burst into life in the final five minutes.

Alcardo Van Graan gave the home side an 85th-minute lead with a clever finish from a corner in cold and rainy conditions.

Elsewhere, Everton, Fulham, and Newcastle United were all held to draws.

In Scotland, Everton drew 1-1 with Motherwell where the hosts’ Nicky Law levelled a first-half header from Shane Duffy.

Newcastle had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Fenerbahce after Mehdi Abeid’s opener was cancelled out in the last minute by the Turkish side’s Christian Baroni in Austria.

Fulham’s new signing Mladen Petric scored twice as they came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with German side Kaiserslautern.

Meanwhile, Gaby Agbonlahor scored in the 29th minute as Aston Villa beat the Chicago Fire 1-0.—Agencies