Owen Hargreaves.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Calgary-born Owen Hargreaves made his long-awaited comeback from injury on Thursday with 45 minutes of competitive action for Manchester United's reserve team.

The 29-year-old England midfielder, who has been out for 18 months after surgery on both knees to cure persistent tendinitis, played one half for United's second-string team against Burnley.

Hargreaves did not play at full speed or make any strong challenges in the game, and will now hope he does not get any adverse reaction to his first match back as he eyes a return to first-team action.

"This was the first step in what has been an incredibly long ordeal and I am very happy to be back," Hargreaves said. "It was nice to play in a match with a referee and proper opponents on a proper pitch. I have been doing everything on my own so it has been nice having people around again."