The New Saints will aim to avoid any travel sickness as they head to Prestatyn tonight looking to close the gap on the Welsh Premier leaders Bangor City.

While the Saints have been unstoppable with six straight wins on their artificial surface at Park Hall, the defending champions have not fared so well on the road with defeats at Llanelli and Bangor and draw at Airbus UK undermining their challenge.

So the Oswestry men know they need to turn up the heat on opposition soil, starting with tonight’s tricky trip to Bastion Road.

TNS ran out convincing 5-2 home winners when the sides met at the start of the season, having now netted 31 goals at Park Hall this term, but will be wary of their North Wales coast hosts whose top scorer Lee Hunt is always a handful up front.

Central defender Steve Evans is back in the TNS frame after being stripped of his captaincy following a public order offence last month, with fellow defender Tommy Holmes likely to lead the side.

The Saints go into the encounter 11 points adrift of leaders Bangor, but will be anxious to close the gap tonight as the Citizens face a crunch clash at big spending Neath tomorrow.

The border men are scoring plenty of goals throughout the team, with Richie Partridge and Alex Darlington leading the way with six apiece while Chris Sharp and Matty Williams have both netted five times.

But at the other end, they have conceded 14 – one more than they shipped in during the whole of last season.

Saints keeper Simon Williams, who is on loan at Prestatyn, will not don the gloves against his own club due to the terms of the loan deal.

By JOHN BRIDGWATER