United, who won the inaugural FFA Cup in 2014, take on Regan’s former club Newcastle Jets in the Round of 32 on Wednesday at Marden Sports Complex.

Both clubs underwent coaching changes in the off-season with Ernie Merrick appointed at Newcastle in early May, while Marco Kurz was confirmed as Adelaide's new boss in mid-June.

The Jets are into their seventh week of pre-season, have played four friendlies and have almost completed their squad.

United’s pre-season has been more disrupted after losing more than half a dozen key players, including Dylan McGowan, Eugene Galekovic, Marcelo Carrusca, Sergio Cirio, Kim Jae-Sung, Riley McGree and Iacopo La Rocca.

Only Paul Izzo had been recruited until the addition of Ersan Gulum, Johan Absalonsen, George Blackwood and Vince Lia in the past fortnight.

Ersan Gulum

The Reds have also only played two friendlies ahead of the cup clash, while Senegalese striker Baba Diawara’s return was delayed after visa issues.

Adelaide have publicly acknowledged they’re still in the market for four to five players, including two attacking midfielders and a defender with two visa spots open.

“There’s a few that have arrived late,” Regan told FourFourTwo. “But I wouldn’t say that we’re behind the eight ball.

“Maybe our whole squad isn’t fully together now but the boys who are here, we’ve still got a big chunk here, we’re fighting fit which is good.”

Regan said knocking off an A-League club in the Round of 32 would provide a boost internally, given the club’s pre-season.

“It gives you a bit of a psychological edge if you can do well in pre-season against these teams,” Regan said.

“We’ve got a couple more spots to fill within our squad so it’ll probably be quite a different team to that which lines up in Round One but we have faith in the boys who will play.

“Newcastle have got a well balanced and experienced team which has been together for seven weeks. We’ll have our work cut out but hopefully we can get the chocolates.”

Marco Kurz

Regan was full of praise for new coach Marco Kurz’s pre-season regime, which has the squad working harder than ever.

The Reds have won both of their friendlies in the past fortnight comfortably, triumphing 5-0 over White City and 4-0 over the Adelaide Comets.

“It’s always good to impress a new manager with a good performance, albeit against opponents we are expected to beat,” Regan said.

“It’s been an opportunity for a few trialists to stamp their claim and also a few young boys to show the coach what they can do before the big guns roll in which they’ve started to.”