Town boss Kieran McKenna said he got what he wanted from the 3-1 friendly win at Aberdeen and believes his side is in general on the right track.

Jaden Philogene netted twice and George Hirst once as the Blues came through a competitive fixture against the Scottish Cup holders.

“I thought it was good,” he said. “We got what we wanted out of the game, really. Pushed the minutes past the 45 for the boys who started the game and that will probably flip on Tuesday night [against Charlton at Colchester] a little bit.

“Some really good things in the first half. Intensity off the ball, especially in that middle spell of the first half, was really, really good, locked Aberdeen in and really dominated it.

“Scored some good goals. Some things to improve, could have given away an early goal, which would have been poor and some things to improve throughout, but in general on the right track.”

He added: “I think Aberdeen’s a really good side. The game started off really evenly and they could have easily been 1-0 up. We watched a lot of their games from last year and I think they’ve got a really good game model - good energy, different threats with the ball, a lot of runners on the top line.

“[Aberdeen manager] Jimmy [Thelin]’s doing a good job and, of course, had the big success last year. It was a really big test for us.

“I know it got a little bit more comfortable for us once we got the goals, but it didn’t feel like that, it felt like a really competitive game, so I’m sure they’ll have a good season.”

McKenna says little should be ready into the XI which started the match: “Not really, I think it’s still really early on.

“There are probably more players out there who have the familiarity of playing with us, but there’s still a couple of weeks to go to the season, we’re still looking at different options and different partnerships, and we’ll continue to do that in the next few games.”

With Sam Morsy having moved on, Dara O’Shea again skippered but McKenna again wouldn’t confirm that the Irishman is the new club captain.

“No, no announcements. If I was announcing that, it wouldn’t be in this room!” he laughed. “We’ve got some really strong leaders in the group, Dara’s certainly one of them and we’ll make those decisions and announcements in due time.”

Photo: TWTD

ImAbeliever added 22:53 - Jul 25 Good
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ImAbeliever added 22:53 - Jul 25 Good
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RobsonWark added 23:14 - Jul 25 I just hope he gets a settled side each week because last season it felt like he didn't know his best starting 11 with all the changes each week. You need to pick a team and stick with it unless you get injuries.
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ArnieM added 07:36 - Jul 26 By and large RobsonWark, I’d agree with you. Unfortunately it’s become more of a squad game these days. The game doesn’t even refer to it as “ the squad” anymore, but “ the group”. I take your point completely about a settled 11, but with in excess of 45 games this season every 2-3 days, there will be an element of player rotation, otherwise we’ll pick up a lot of injuries. It’s a fine line between too much change, and not enough, isn’t it…

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Facefacts added 15:29 - Jul 26 I think we will pick up injuries through lack of protection from referees in the Championship, starting with Birmingham who will try to kick lumps out of us.
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