'Patience and complacency'.

They're the watchwords of Scott Ruscoe as The New Saints prepare for one of their biggest games of the season so far in the Irn-Bru Cup semi-final against Scottish Championship side Dumbarton at Park Hall on Saturday.

Ruscoe is looking forward to the opportunity to go one better than last year's semi-final defeat to St Mirren and wants to set up a great day out for all connected with the club.

"We've got to be patient to break them down – we don't like to talk about complacency but it's in our minds every time we go out to play our game," he said.

We can't take for granted that we've got a home tie and think that it's all done and dusted; do our work early on and get through to a final and make it a great day for the club.

"This is a really good chance to get through to a final. Saturday is a massive game and we're going into it in exactly the right form.

"It's not the usual rigmarole of our league campaign but it's a cup semi-final and we want to go one better than last year and reach the final. They're a very good side but if we could go one further and reach the final then we'll meet one of our objectives from the start of the season.

"I think we've had a good run but to get a home draw in the semi-final, I don't think we could have asked for anything more. That's a huge positive for us and hopefully we'll be going through to the final for an excellent day out for the fans and the players."

Ruscoe is expecting a tough test from the side from the banks of the River Clyde, near Glasgow, despite their less-than-impressive league form.

But he insisted TNS will be prepared for the test of breaking them down.

"We've assessed the strengths of weaknesses of Dumbarton – we're expecting a strong challenge from them despite them being second from bottom in the Scottish Championship.

"It's one where this will be a distraction for them so they'll give everything. Their management team were at the Bangor City game on Friday night and they would have obviously seen us at our best.

"They'll know they have to be at their best to beat us but they haven't scored a lot of goals.

"They might come to contain us, bank up and be as strong and determined as a lot of teams have been at Park Hall, then they stand a chance of winning the game.

"We've been beaten by Barry Town United and Newtown at home and Dumbarton are better than those two teams so we have to be on our guard."

The clash – Saint's fourth home tie – at Park Hall will be live on S4C, kicking-off at 7.35pm.