Adelaide United forward, Ben Halloran, believes there was noticeable improvement in their skill and intensity levels following its second internal friendly match.
There were a number of promising signs particularly from an attacking perspective with Halloran’s side playing some fluid football on their way to recording a dominant 7-1 win.
Riley McGree opened the scoring while Kristian Opseth, Lachlan Brook, and Halloran himself all bagged a brace each.
The 28-year-old thought there was reason to be encouraged as they continue to build their conditioning ahead of the re-start in less than a fortnight.
“I think it’s a vast improvement from last week,” Halloran told reporters at Coopers Stadium.
“We had our first internal game last week and definitely had a few cobwebs to blow out.
“But I think the boys are looking a bit sharper. It’s such a short pre-season so it’s important we get minutes under the belt, but also quality minutes and I think we did that today.”
Before the Hyundai A-League 2019/20 season was abruptly halted, Halloran was experiencing his most prolific campaign of his career to date.
The former Fortuna Düsseldorf man has scored 10 goals in 21 matches across all competitions, seven of which have arrived in the league.
Interim Head Coach, Carl Veart, has been in the role for almost a month and Halloran discussed some of the things the ex-Reds striker has addressed.
“He (Carl Veart) wants us to play an attractive brand of football,” he explained.
“He wants us to not be as leaky in defence as we were (before the hiatus), it’s important to have a tight, compact defence.
“We’ve always been strong on the counter-attack and going forward, but making sure everyone is across the same page when it comes to defensively setting up and then just letting our free-flowing football happen naturally.”
