Shropshire Star

The New Saints have chance to extend their lead

The New Saints have the huge incentive of knowing a home win against nearest title rivals Connah’s Quay Nomads tomorrow would take them four points clear at the top of the Welsh Premier.

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The top two go head to head at Park Hall (5.15pm) in the final game ahead of the league splitting into two - for the top six and bottom six clubs - for the closing months of the season.

Saints boss Scott Ruscoe said: "We’re back to this stage again where obviously we’re splitting next week after the cup game, so very important, vital stage of the season, with 11 games to go now.

“It is the business end. We’re sort of ramping up training, we’re making sure that the players are flying along and working at their maximum.

“It’s a very important game. Training all week will be intense, just as it will be on matchday on Saturday.”

With Saints winning 2-0 win at Newtown last Friday night, Ruscoe took the opportunity to watch Nomads in action the following day.

Two late goals gave Nomads a 2-0 victory over Barry Town United to ensure the gap between the clubs remains just a single point.

Ruscoe added: "I always look at Connah’s Quay and make sure that we can stand up to their threat, which is obviously the long ball, they’ve got a long throw that we’ve got to deal with.

"Barry tried in vain to keep them out, but they just kept peppering the goal.

“The corner delivery was decent. It was very difficult to defend, so I’m glad I went to see the game.

“It’s a different story sort of on 3G, but the way they'll play, they’ll probably play exactly the same, come out at us and make sure that we’re up for that battle.

“That challenge is vital, that we stand up and we clear our lines, and then we go and play our game and settle down and make sure that we don’t just become a team that can defend against them.

“It’s important that we go out and play our own game.”