Ralph Hasenhuttl believes Saints have finally found themselves fierce competition for attacking places.

Summer signing Che Adams marked his debut with a goal in Saints’ first friendly of the summer against SCR Altach in Austria.

Danny Ings then proved he is in form ahead of the new campaign with a brace in a 3-1 win over Preston at Deepdale.

With the likes of Shane Long, Michael Obafemi, Nathan Redmond and Moussa Djenepo also vying for attacking positions, Hasenhuttl is happy with his options.

He said: “I think we have very variable players in the moment. We have alternatives for every part of our game and I think that’s important.

“We have had young players with us so far during pre-season which has given us new options and we have a battle in front for sure.

“It’s a good challenge because I’m sure it’s the position where we have the biggest battle at the moment but it will help us to get more quality in front of the goal.”

Ings scored two first half goals and Jake Vokins added a third from the bench as Saints defeated their Championship opponents.

Hasenhuttl reflected: “I think it was a good game.

“We worked on a few things during the week and you could see the topics we had was a little bit about working against the ball, winning the ball and getting a quick transition forward.

“I think we had a lot of chances in the first half with a quick transition forward and maybe could score a little bit more but that was not the goal today.

“I know we have not worked so much on finishing yet but to create the chances was a topic and I think we had a lot this game so finally it was a good test for us.”