China captain Zheng Zhi made his English Premier League debut for Charlton Athletic on Saturday, sending in some promising crosses late in the game but unable to mitigate the relegation-threatened side's 2-0 loss to Manchester United.

Manchester's win keeps them six points clear of Chelsea at the top of the table, while Charlton are tied for 19th with West Ham on 20 points.

Zheng, brought on for Amady Faye in the 40th minute, described his performance as "pretty good."

"I had a month here preparing for my first match in the league and (Saturday's result) was pretty good payback for my hard training.

"I feel that it is totally different soccer here in terms of speed and technique, and obviously I need more time to get used to it."

With Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung of South Korea scoring in the 24th minute for his second Premiership goal of the season, Zheng's debut was ultimately outshone by the rival Asian star.

Park, starting in place of an unwell Cristiano Ronaldo, broke the deadlock when he rose above Ben Thatcher to head home Patrice Evra's cross from 12 yards.

Darren Fletcher sealed the win in the 83rd courtesy of a flash of brilliance from Wayne Rooney.

Zheng said he wasn't cowed by the challenge from Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

"I didn't consider it - to play against the formidable Man United or any other team. I just want to play at my level and this was a very satisfactory way to make my debut."

The 26-year-old from Shandong was given a modest six points by Skysports for his performance.

Charlton manager Alan Pardew said he was happy with the display put on by all his new signings at Old Trafford.

"The debutantes were a massive bonus for us today. I thought Song was terrific," he said. "ZiZi (Zheng's nickname) was another bonus and our spirit was strong.

"It was a good performance from us and the next two weeks will be very, very important to us as we prepare the team physically and mentally to be stronger than anybody else."

Charlton face relegation rivals West Ham and Watford in their next two games.

Title focused

Sir Ferguson urged his players to focus on the Premiership title and forget about two-time defending champions Chelsea snapping at their heels.

He said that worrying about Chelsea's progress could prove counter-productive.

"The important thing is that we are playing well and not having to look over our shoulder at Chelsea. We should just look forward and take care of ourselves.

"When you are going for a title, people always talk about the team chasing in second place and whether the team in front can last at the top. But we just need to focus on our games."

He was also full of praise for his latest conquests' battling spirit. "Struggling teams like Charlton don't usually have the confidence to come and play, but they did that and they scrapped all the way.

"We didn't take advantage of our chances when we should have done and when they put in a free kick that was glanced behind by one of our defenders, it just showed that 1-0 means nothing and a goal can be scored in a second.

"But our defence was strong, probably the best it has been for a while, and it's important that we keep building on the clean sheets. I want us to start getting six and seven clean sheets in a row."

United were playing without goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who is recovering from a broken nose sustained in last week's 4-0 win over Spurs.

(China Daily and agencies February 12, 2007)