Attendance figures at The Venue for New Saints games were up in 2009/10, despite an overall slump in the numbers attending Welsh Premier League matches.
Attendances at The New Saints home games were up by 6.2 per cent on the previous season according to figures released by the Welsh Premier League.
Analysis carried out by Soccerfile Wales showed that attendance figures at The Venue had risen by an average of 19 fans per game this term, from 307 in 2008/09, to 326.
The figures come in contrast to those which show that the average attendance in the Welsh Premier League has dropped by 4.5 per cent this time around, with an average of 276 visiting games throughout the course of the campaign - the third highest set of figures since recording began in 1994/95.
But TNS still sit sixth in the attendance league table despite being one of only five teams in the league to have benefited from an increase in the figures, which were published last week. Although they have recorded the third highest number of fans at home games taking place on Sundays, averaging 478 over their three fixtures.
The TNS average for Friday night games stands at a disappointing 318. It is the attendance figures for Saturday games which has proved most alarming, with this year’s league champions only bringing in 291 supporters, although that figure is still above the league average of 258, in a trend that has not gone unnoticed by the Welsh FA.
With the introduction of the ‘Super 12s’ league format in September, it will be interesting to see how the average attendances for the season are affected.
But unless more matches are played on Friday evenings, and Sundays, attendances look set to struggle, and it remains to be seen if kick off times or fixtures on Saturdays involving lower league fixtures can be moved to allow more people to attend Premier League matches.