Scott Ruscoe has called on his table-topping TNS side to be consistently brilliant as they swept aside title rivals Connah’s Quay Nomads last night.

Jamie Mullan put them ahead within two minutes while Ryan Brobbel’s brilliance doubled their lead soon after before Jon Routledge sealed the win late on.

Saints boss Ruscoe admitted he felt the win at Park Hall was one of TNS’s finest this year and was delighted to restore a four-point gap at the top.

“I’ve told the players there the standards we have to keep to now,” he said.

“You always want to be top of the tree and a few points clear – you need that daylight just in case something happens, like a draw or not playing well and ending up with a scrappy loss.

“Results don’t always go your way. The best team is always top of the league as long as you’re consistent.

“I was happy with that – a clean sheet and three goals at home. To score inside two minutes and then soon after puts your nerves at rest. Performance-wise, I think that was one of our best this season.

“But it could have been different as they had a chance before-half; 2-0 is one of those score lines I remember as a player that if you sat back, you were vulnerable.

“I was really happy with it and it’s up there with beating Bala in the second game.

“They rattled the crossbar and Connell Rawlinson headed the ball off the line, which was a brilliant last-ditch clearance. We’ve kept the clean sheet and attacking wise, we’ve played some great one-touch stuff.

“We moved them about as they do tend to go man-for-man across the pitch.”

Ruscoe made changes from last time out – in the Welsh Cup – with the impressive on-loan star Ryan Leak missing out for the returning Rawlinson.

But Ruscoe believes it shows the level of talent TNS have.

He added: “I pulled Ryan Leak out for nothing other than Connell has come back into the side.

“He hasn’t done anything wrong, I just wanted to get him in. Aeron Edwards dropped out too because we rotated – we’ve got to, there’s so many games coming up.

“We need everyone to get match time. We’ll be ticking over in training with so many games coming up.”