Following yesterday’s pre-season victory against Stockport County, we spoke to forward Luke Armstrong.
“You always want to finish pre-season with a win and I thought we did really well today, especially the first 45 and then after they scored their goal, I thought we picked up a little bit more as well.
“But yeah, much better performance and you always want to finish with a win, which we have done.”
Speaking about the first-half in further detail, he said: “I just thought we had a much better shape than we had in previous games and we were waiting for that mistake, we were waiting for a sloppy pass from them, and we all did it together, we were all on the same page.
“We were winning the ball back up high and we had them pinned in and yeah, it was good to watch.
“I was dying to get on there. It's great to be back here and seeing some of the fans. We had a fast start and we continued it through most of the game, which was positive.”
Dan Adu-Adjei scored the opening goal of the game, netting on his United debut.
“He did really well, he had a lot of chances and that's what you want as a striker. He looks like a real threat.
“He's added to our front line and it's a really strong front line, I think, for this level and it's good to have good competition.
“He just slotted right in there and in training it was short and sharp and he looked sharp as well, so yeah, looking forward to working with him.”
Luke then entered the action after the break, replacing Adu-Adjei and found himself on the scoresheet during the second-half following a long throw from Ben Barclay.
“That's something we've got, the long throw from Barcs and it's always a threat.
“I'm not sure who flicked it, but it was a good flick that just slipped over to the back stick and luckily I was there to get on the end of it.
“You never know how a goal is going to come and the more options you've got, the more chances you've got of getting chances and scoring goals.”
Yesterday, the Blues returned to action at home following a busy summer off the pitch at Brunton Park
“It makes a difference being at home. We've played every game away against, to be fair, some tough opposition, but yeah, always going to have blips in the road and that's what we've done and then we've come back and yeah, everyone looks sharp and refreshed, which is great.
“There's been a lot of work going on here over the summer. It's great to be back here obviously with the rest of our pre-season games being played away from home.
“It's exciting times. There's a lot of work going on and the owners are doing loads for the club and for the fans, so yeah, it's exciting times ahead.”
When asked to assess our pre-season in full, he stated: “Bar the last two against Gateshead and Rochdale, they've been very positive.
“I thought obviously the first few games were just for fitness, then once you got in there playing tough opposition in St Mirren, I thought we were really good against St Mirren after a tough week away.
“We went a bit quieter, maybe a bit tired in the last two games and then today we looked a lot sharper and ready for the season to start.”
United get their 2024/25 campaign underway next weekend as they travel to Gillingham. Looking ahead to the game, Armstrong said: “It's a long trip but we're excited to just get the season going and we want to start off with a win.
“It's always tough down there. They're normally a big physical side and you know you're in for a tough test but we've just got to quiet the crowd and start with high energy as we did today in the first 10 minutes.
The support's great here as we know and they'll travel wherever we go and back us all the way. We've just got to keep them with us.”
It’s been made clear that promotion is the aim this term, when asked about that target, Luke said: “Yeah, of course it's the aim. We've got the squad to do it and we've just got to put it into practice.
“It's a tough old season but as I say, looking at who we've got in and what we can do as a club and where we've come from, we want to be pushing for promotion.”
Talking on personal targets, he added: “Just score as many goals as I can and play as many minutes as I can. It's hard to put numbers on it.
“I always say 15 goals, you've had a great season. 20 goals, that's like an ideal season for a striker.
“It's the main goal. But yeah, it's just play as many minutes and impact the game and score as many times as I can.”
Finally, Luke had the following message for supporters: “Hopefully we bring a better one than last season.
“Excited to see everyone at the first game at home.”
