Scott Ruscoe calls on The New Saints to restore pride

After suffering a 5-0 mauling at the hands of the Macedonians in the first leg in Skopje last week, even the most optimistic would concede the Welsh Premier champions face an early exit.

A superb four-goal blast from Besart Ibraimi stunned the Saints after Izair Emini had opened the scoring with a 14th-minute opener.

Defeat at the hands of a classy Shkendija outfit has left Scott Ruscoe’s side with a seemingly forlorn task tonight, but the manager wants to go out with heads held high.

“We will give it a go, We want to get some pride back as we’ve still got the Europe League to play towards,” he said.

“We weren’t good enough on the night, gifted them the first two goals, and were beaten by the better team.

“I don’t think it will just be Ibraimi we’ll have to worry about in the second leg. We knew about the goals he can score, but they have a few decent players.”

The Saints will keen to put in a tighter defensive showing after conceding five goals in their last two Champions League outings following last summer’s 5-1 reverse against Croatian side HNK Rijeka.

Waiting in the second qualifying round for the winners will be either Georgian champions FC Torpedo Kutaisi or Moldova high fliers FC Sheriff Tiraspol. In their first leg at home, Kutaisi notched a 2-1 advantage.

Should they go out, TNS do have the consolation of playing in the Europa League with a meeting against Gibraltar champions Lincoln Red Imps in the second qualifying round.

The first leg will be at Park Hall on Thursday, July 28, with the return the following Thursday, August 2.

Red Imps famously defeated Scottish high fliers Celtic 1-0 at home two years ago before losing the return leg to bow out 3-1 on aggregate.