TNS may be out of their debut European campaign after a 3-2 loss to Slovenian champions NK Celje, but they have done Welsh football proud.
They put in another spirited performance which showed that they can mix it with anyone. TNS will be wondering what if however had concentration levels been better for two of the goals they conceded.
The Welsh champions twice took the lead but were twice penned back within two minutes before a second half onslaught from their hosts proved too much to handle for Craig Harrison’s side.
Danny Davies and Rory Holden were the scorers for TNS, with their first half goals giving them hope of qualification at the time.
In the end, even a win wouldn’t have been enough to qualify, and Celje’s win gave them their first ever European knockout berth, with the hosts also having two goals disallowed for offside.
Here are TNS’ ratings from yet another narrow defeat, in their European farewell for the time-being.
TNS player ratings v NK Celje
Connor Roberts – 8
While some hyper-critics may blame Roberts for not coming off his line quick enough for two of the goals, his outstanding saves kept TNS within touching distance of getting a result.
A couple of point-blank saves and a rare foray into the Celje box from a corner characterised an all-action Roberts game which summed up his brilliant European campaign as a whole.
Josh Daniels – 6.5
Some smart play won the freekick that led to TNS’ opener, looked solid on the ball and had some nice touches.
Got a yellow card for a tactical foul to stop a counterattack.
Decent game for Daniels.
Danny Davies – 7
Opened the scoring with a lovely header but was part of a defence that conceded three.
Did not disgrace himself despite the goals and cannot be considered to have been responsible for any of them really.
Was occasionally beaten a little bit too easily.
Josh Pask – 5.5
Kept Edmilson onside for the second goal and was slightly fortunate to have not given away a penalty when he left out a leg and made contact with a Celje attacker.
Danny Redmond – 6
Was under the cosh for much of the game and especially in the second half with star players Nieto and Seslar on his side.
Dealt reasonably well but never looked truly comfortable defensively.
Played a dangerous pass back to his keeper which was nearly pounced on in the first half and nearly caused a goal.
Ben Clark – 6
Plenty of running and effort both on and off the ball and caused a couple of mistakes but overall didn’t have a massive impact on the game.
Defended well.
Leo Smith – 5
Had a steady game but cannot be rated too highly after a moment of madness where he played a blind ball to Connor Roberts which was intercepted and caused the first equaliser for Celje.
Was not actually bad overall but was punished for that moment.
Dan Williams – 6.5
A steady performance in which his best moment was a lovely slide tackle to stop a five-man Celje counterattack which almost certainly would have resulted in a goal.
Ran around and defended well, with a couple of tidy touches on the ball.
Ryan Brobbel – 8
Two brilliant assists. His first of which was an inviting delivery from a freekick which Davies got on to.
His second was an outstanding display of vision and technique to play Rory Holden in on goal.
Was very lucky to not be at fault for a goal conceded after he lost Nieto who missed a sitter.
Rory Holden – 7.5
Doubled his European group stage tally in lucky fashion, with Celje keeper Rozman getting behind the finish with the weakest hand you will ever see.
Helped spearhead a few potent looking attacks.
Declan McManus – 6.5
Was given scraps as he so often is in Europe.
Some good hold up play from Declan got TNS up the pitch, and a couple of fouls won helped his team out, including causing a Celje yellow card.
Substitutes
Jordan Marshall – 6
Not a huge impact after coming on.
Adrian Cieslewicz – 6
Did not impact the game as much as he would have liked.
Jordan Williams-6
See above.
Adam Wilson-6.5
Great pace and dribbling and very nearly got himself a goal, firing narrowly wide.
Sion Bradley – N/A
Looked dangerous and nearly created an opening at the death but wasn’t on long enough to be fairly judged.
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