Southampton: How did Che Adams do on his first Saints appearance?

Southampton played out a 1-1 draw with Austrian Bundesliga side SCR Altach on Sunday afternoon.

Two separate teams were used in each half by Ralph Hasenhuttl in another important step towards fitness ahead of the 2019/20 season.

The game marked the end of Saints’ week-long training camp in Austria and they will now travel back to England ahead of another friendly next Saturday against Preston North End.

Summer signing Che Adams played a part at the CASHPOINT Arena today and made his first appearance since joining Saints for around £16m from Birmingham City.

So, how did the 22-year-old do in his maiden game in a red and white shirt?

If this is just the beginning of Adams’ impact during the coming season, Saints fans can begin to get excited about what the club’s new striker could do at St Mary’s.

He was named alongside Shane Long in attack and they had both Mohamed Elyounoussi and Josh Sims supporting from attacking-midfield.

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It was the Long and Adams combination that produced the goods just two minutes in.

Long found his way down the left and in behind the Altach defence and slid a ball across the 18-yard line. It arrived with Adams as he was positioned just above the penalty spot.

With his back to goal, he spun away from a defender’s challenge and struck a low shot into the far corner to open the scoring.

Clearly the match was mainly for improving fitness for the Saints players adn to get them back up and running, but this was perhaps the perfect start for Adams.

He was substituted at half-time with the other 10 starters but could have even had a hat-trick in the 45 minutes he played.

After 32 minutes, he was put through on goal by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and brushed off a challenge before striking the near post with a powerful effort.

And then shortly before half-time, he showed great pace again to race onto a measured ball from Maya Yoshida. This time he rounded home keeper Martin Kobras and advanced towards goal, only to see his shot well blocked on the line.

There’s a lot of pre-season still to go for the Saints squad – and there will be better times to judge performances than this opening game – but the initial signs are that Adams could have real impact this year.

Glimpses of his pace, finishing ability and strength were seen against Altach and only bode well fro his future development at St Mary’s.