Kenny McLean donned the captain's armband in City's 1-0 win over Darmstadt, discussing post-match what the squad have been working on in training and how pleased he was to see it put into action at the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor stadium.
"It was a tough game, tough conditions. I think the temperature actually dropped from last night, which was a bit of a help to start with.
"I think you can see things that we work on on the training pitch, which we take into the game, which is obviously the plan. We will try to keep on improving; it's an opportunity for us, with these games, to improve and work on things that we're doing.
"We've worked on a lot of stuff without the ball in the last few days and the shape that we want. I think you can see today that the shape of the team and the work rate was outstanding at times and we really limited them.
"We'd like to create a few more chances, which we will work on more. I think the fact that in last few days we've worked on shape of the team without the ball and how we want to control the game without the ball, I think we took that into the game and it was excellent."
McLean played 75 minutes of this evening's friendly and a further 45 minutes against King's Lynn in last weekend's 6-1 win.
"It's been a while since I've had some minutes, so this was a step up, in terms of positioning and quality. Thankfully, I got through that 75, and I'm feeling pretty good.
"I was straight into the gym when I came off, so hard work is going in. I'm feeling good off the back of last season, pre-season is going well for everybody and the squad is looking in good shape, even this early."
City take on Kaiserslautern on Saturday at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in the second of two friendlies whilst on tour in Germany.
"The lads that have played a bit more might get a bit more of a more relaxed day tomorrow, but that's what pre-season is all about; working hard. We'll be ready to go again Saturday.
"I'm sure there will be some rotation, but it's all about getting minutes in the legs. I think every body has got through it okay. It was really pleasing, not just getting fitness and minutes today, but taking stuff from the training pitch out there into the game."