Carl Veart’s Reds triumphed over local South Australian National Premier League (NPL) side, Adelaide Comets, 8-0 in a friendly behind-closed-doors at Coopers Stadium on Thursday evening.
The resounding win was partially thanks to a hat-trick by Kusini Yengi, dual braces from Ben Halloran and Yaya Dukuly, and an impressive left-footed strike from full-back, Ryan Strain.
In just the third pre-season friendly for Veart’s side, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing travel restrictions and elongating the local NPL season, United controlled the match from the outset and demonstrated a real thirst for goals.
Speaking after the match, Veart explained his delight with the display, saying: “I’m very happy with the performance of the boys.
“I have to take my hat off to Comets for giving us a game.
“That’s their second hit-out after three or four weeks off, so they were a little bit rusty tonight, but, in saying that, our boys didn’t really give them an opportunity to get into the game.
“In the first half we went out and had a real intensity and played some good stuff at times.
“I asked the boys to really concentrate on our attacking plays and I really saw that in the way we played.
“It’s always pleasing, as a coach, to see what you work on in training happen in a match and to get goals breeds confidence and shows to the players that we’re on the right track.
Veart also praised the return of Nathan Konstandopoulos after the 24-year-old made his first appearance in a match since injuring his anterior cruciate ligament in February.
“Nathan (Konstandopoulos) has worked extremely hard and he got his reward tonight.
“He started tonight and played 50 minutes and did very well.
“You wouldn’t know he’d been out for such a long time and he’s such a model professional in the way he works and I’m so happy for him.
“Hopefully he can keep building on that and be ready for Round 1.”
Match details:
Thursday, 3 December 2020
Pre-season friendly – Coopers Stadium
Adelaide United 8 (Halloran 8’ 87’, Yengi 11’ 37’ 59’, Dukuly 42’ 75’, Strain 69’)
Adelaide Comets 0
Adelaide United
Starting XI: James Delianov (GK), Noah Smith, Michael Jakobsen, Jordan Elsey, Ryan Strain, Louis D’Arrigo, Nathan Konstandopoulos, Joe Caletti, Ben Halloran, Kusini Yengi, Yaya Dukuly
Substitutes: Michael Marrone, George Timotheou, Domenic Costanzo, Pacifique Niyongabire, Dakota Ochsenham (GK), Yared Abetew, Jonny Yull, Leo Mazis (trialist)
Adelaide Comets
Starting XI: Daniel Vaughn (GK), Jack Bladen, Jayden Lobasso, Nathan Dimou, Adam Le Cornu, Scott Nagel, Allan Welsh, Ninko Beric, Andreas Wiens, Tete Yengi, Ryan Yates
Substitutes: Julian Torresan (GK), Manley Barnett, Tom Dittmar, Anthony Mavrolambados, Taki Tsialafos, Thomas Giannakopoulos, Nathan Andijanto, Kosta Tsalamangos, Niko Ikonomopoulos, Chris Christofilos
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