The New Saints chasing nine in a row under the lights

A run of eight consecutive league wins has enabled Saints to move nine points clear of second-placed Penybont as they target a record-extending 17th title.  

TNS head coach Craig Harrison said: “Yes, it’s a better position than what we were in six weeks ago, so we know that, but, yes, there’s still an awful lot of hard work to do.

“I think there’s seven league games left and we want to try and win every single one of them.

“We find ourselves in a good position. The lads have been excellent. I think that’s 10 domestic games in a row we’ve won, so it’s a great time to hit good form and we want to carry this on on Friday night against Bala.”

Saints have lost twice to sixth-placed Bala in the league this season, most recently 1-0 at Maes Tegid in early December.

Harrison admitted that will add an extra incentive for his side going into this evening’s match.  

“Yes, I think it does,” he said. "I personally can’t remember the last time we got beat twice off one team, so Bala have obviously been a tough game and they’ve won two games.

“They beat us home and away. You’ve got to respect that and understand that they’re going to be a tough team to play against, but we’re in a much richer vein of form. We’ve got a good training rhythm.

“We’ve got everyone fit, bar Josh Daniels, who had surgery on his ankle on Friday just gone, so Josh will be back in two, three months time ready for pre-season.

“He’s not going to play for the rest of the season now, but Josh has been carrying that injury for maybe 18 months, so, yes, it was good to get him under the knife and get his problem sorted out.

“But apart from that we’ve got everyone fit again. Ryan Astles has trained again, Ash Baker’s trained again, Tom Jones is training again.”