MANCHESTER United coach Sir Alex Ferguson says he is impressed by the improvement in the standard of South African football over the last few years.

The Red Devils boss has been bringing his side to the country since 1993.

In the past, his team played against Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, but this time around his charges took on AmaZulu and Ajax Cape Town - clubs that finished seventh and ninth respectively in the Absa Premiership last season.

Ajax came within two minutes of a famous victory on Saturday, but a late Bebe goal cancelled out an earlier strike from Alcardo van Graan. That followed a narrow and slightly fortuitous 1-0 success against Usuthu on Wednesday.

"In the years that we have been coming there has definitely been good progress," Ferguson says.

"I can only measure on the years since we started coming here, but there have been good improvements and we played two very competitive games against AmaZulu and Ajax.

"Ajax, in particular, had very good tactics. They pressed the ball hard and counter-attacked very well. They gave us quite a few uneasy moments."

However, the results on a tour such as this are secondary and Ferguson says his club met their objectives in South Africa - to train well, play competitive matches and finish without injuries.

"The tour has been very satisfactory for us. We are very pleased with how it went," Ferguson says.

"The game time and the fact that we have no injuries - I am very satisfied."

Ajax coach Maarten Stekelenburg is also pleased that his side put up a strong showing in front of a sell-out crowd, which he hopes will give local fans reason to come to more PSL games in the next season.

"The team played okay. We are obviously happy with the support. I think this game did a lot to help us build our brand in this city.

"We hope people will now come out for our next games too and support the team. That is what we got from today," Stekelenburg said.