TNS v BK Hacken: Saints face an uphill battle - but they are still in the tie

All of the goals in last Wednesday’s opening leg of the first qualifying round tie in Gothenburg came in the first half, including a fine header from Declan McManus for Saints.

TNS goalkeeper Connor Roberts then produced some fine saves in the closing stages to ensure the JD Cymru Premier champions are still in the tie ahead of this evening’s clash in Oswestry.

“They were very good,” said TNS head coach Craig Harrison, reflecting on how tonight’s opponents played in Sweden.

“I think the biggest credit we’ve got to give the boys though, we’re 2-0 down after 15 minutes, that could go really bad.

“The quality team we’ve played and if you don’t dig in and you don’t pull yourself together, you’ve still got 30 minutes before you get in the dressing room to have a breather, etc, so, yes, the lads pulled through.

“From probably 20 minutes onwards, I thought we did great – we’ve done really well.”

Harrison felt all the hard work put in by his players during their pre-season preparations served them well as the first leg went on.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the boys,” he said. “They’ve put such a shift in.

“We spoke about it in pre-season and a lot of the boys have done interviews and said it’s the toughest pre-season they’ve done.

“They’ve been travelling here and travelling there, but I think it all came to fruition the last 15, 20 minutes when we’ve got our real backs against the wall.

“You’re having to dig in and you’re having to suck the bottom of your stomach up to go, right, we’re going to stay in this, because at 4-1 we’re done, 4-1 we’re out of it - 3-1, strangely enough, stranger things have happened.”

Harrison added: “It’s not dead and buried. There’s a lot we need to do, don’t get me wrong, because they were outstanding.

“They’re as good as I’ve played against, certainly the three in midfield, playing in the European competition for TNS.”

Hacken followed their first leg victory over Saints by beating IF Brommapojkarna 4-2 on Saturday, a result which lifted them to second place in the Swedish League.

The winners of tonight’s tie will face either Ferencvaros from Hungary or Ki Klaksvik of the Faroe Islands in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.

Last week’s first leg ended in a 0-0 draw, with Ferencvaros having home advantage for the return.

The losers of this evening’s tie will go into the Europa Conference League second qualifying round and will meet either Slovan Bratislava from Slovakia or Luxembourg’s Swift Hesper.

That’s also currently level following a 1-1 draw in last week’s first leg in the Slovakian capital.