Oswestry’s The New Saints Football Club were today celebrating a historic European Champions League victory over Bohemians – and are now busy preparing for a glamour clash with top Belgian side Anderlecht.

Club chiefs said the victory was a great boost to the League of Wales club and to sport in the region as a whole.

The New Saints thumped the Dublin outfit 4-0 at Park Hall last night in front of a capacity crowd to win the tie 4-1 on aggregate.

General manager Ian Williams said: “It was a fantastic effort by the lads and we are delighted to progress through to the next round.

“This is massive for the club and for Oswestry and for Shropshire.

“We will now be playing Anderlecht who are a famous European name.

“Our home tie will take place at Wrexham’s Racecourse ground on Tuesday next week so we have less then a week to get everything sorted.

“It is a very exciting time and it was great to see Park Hall full. We are hoping our fans will come out in numbers for the Anderlecht game.

“I remember watching Wrexham play them in the late 1970s in the Cup Winners Cup and that was a great event.

“Hopefully our tie will be the same.”

Mr Williams thanked club stewards and security staff who helped quell scuffles among Bohemians fans.

He said: “I think the Irish fans were frustrated and they had one or two falling-outs. Our stewards did a great job to stop any potential trouble.

“We spoke to the Uefa delegate after the game and he was happy with how we handled the evening.”

Mr Williams added: “Whatever happens in the Anderlecht games we know we will still get another game in Europe because if we lose against Anderlecht we will go into the Europa League.

“Potentially we could play Manchester City, Liverpool or Aston Villa in the Europa League which I am sure would be a huge draw for football fans throughout the area.

Police inspector Jim Stafford said there was one arrest for being drunk and disorderly.