Scottish trophy final ‘not in thoughts’ for TNS boss Craig Harrison

The Latham Park clash against Newtown will see the unbeaten league champions come up against Scott Ruscoe, who previously enjoyed great success with TNS as a player and then manager.

Ruscoe was appointed Newtown manager in January and his side are currently fifth in the league after last weekend’s 2-0 win over Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Harrison stressed it’s very much all eyes on Newtown for Saintsas the countdown continues to the SPFL Trust Trophy final the following Sunday.

“That’s in the distant future, the Challenge Cup game,” said head coach Harrison. “It’s one of them thatWe’re not really thinking about it whatsoever. Obviously, myself and Chris Seargeant have been up there to see them (Airdrieonians) live.

“We probably won’t get another opportunity to see them live again, but we have footage of them, the game against Inverness on Saturday gone, and all theother gameset cetera, et cetera, so we do our due diligence with that.

“But in the forefront, in the foreground now, it’s 100 per cent concentrating on Newtown because it won’t be easy. Obviously, really pleased for Scotty, getting his first win on Saturday, so they’ll be buoyant, they’ll be full of confidence after a really tough start.

“We certainly don’t want to go there with our eyes trying to look ahead of ourselves because we’ll get kicked up the backside, so it’s something that we will not be doing.

“We want to go there and win the game, get that under the belt – and then completely 100 per cent concentrate on the game the following Sunday.”

Saints have won 25 times in a row in all competitions after beating second-placed Connah’s Quay Nomads 5-1 last weekend.