Scott Ruscoe delighted with New Saints’ performance at Bala in wintry conditions
Scott Ruscoe said he was delighted with his sides ability to see off Bala Town on Tuesday evening, which strengthened their hand in the race for the title.
The New Saints continued their stronghold of the Welsh Premier League top spot as they moved nine points clear of near placed Connah’s Quay Nomads.
Scott Ruscoe told The New Saints youtube channel after their victory in Bala in awful conditions that he was delighted to bring home another 3-0 from Maes Tegid. Despite the conditions. He felt that TNS “totally dominated in horrendous conditions – in conditions as bad as I’ve probably seen or been part of in football”.
The wind swirled and the rain poured down in North Wales but Ruscoe praised his charges for passing the ball well in a testing first half in which he felt it was “difficult to even kick it”!
Ruscoe was clearly buoyed by the win as he went on, reflecting on his pre-match thoughts – “I thought if we can get a win here – 9 points clear – it really does push us on”.
He praised Bala, highlighting them as tough opponents “Bala are always there or thereabouts” but reflected on the belief he had in his players which had led TNS to only make one enforced change after the thrashing by Newtown last week.
“If you look at how we played in the first half [v Newtown] it wasn’t that bad. We should have been 3-0 up. Although I was disappointed with the overall result, the performance wasn’t that bad”.
Scott Ruscoe was rewared with the “faith” kept in his squad and their professional status shone through on a tough night. The TNS manager was all too well aware as he highlighted to his squad at half-time that they were “fitter and stronger” instructing them to “keep doing what you’re doing” and it paid off as the ran out easy winners in end.
Looking ahead the former TNS player hoped the weather would pick up as he wouldn’t fancy trying to play the passing football TNS can play versus Prestatyn in similar conditions “the pitch is not playable to suit what we want to do”.
Finally, the Saints manager was pleased with his teams’ place at the halfway point of the season – “to be 9 points clear is a good position to be in” and nobody can really argue with that.
(Featured Image: Naomi Jones of Bala Town FC)
