The NEW SAINTS boss Scott Ruscoe believes his side are almost there in their pre-season preparations for their Champions League clash in Macedonia next week.

TNS dispatched Scottish Championship side on Friday night at Park Hall with goals from Ryan Brobbel and the returning Adrian Cieslewicz, while new signing Kurtis Bryne got a much-needed run out too along with the rest of the summer recruits at The Venue.

Ruscoe takes his side to Glasgow Rangers tonight for one final tough test against Steven Gerrard’s men and the TNS boss knows this will give him the clearest picture of where Saints are ahead of the clash with KF Shkëndija the following week.

“We did really well on Friday night,” said Ruscoe. “I was more pleased with the performance than I was the result.

“Falkirk had only been in for seven or eight days but they are in the Scottish Championship and these are the sides that we are and want to be competing against.

“It was great to see that we were able to take the lads off at 60 or 70 minutes and the people who come on for them are doing just as well.

“The Rangers game tonight, we’ll probably start with a very strong team and then make changes similar to what we might make in Macedonia, without giving too much away.

“The Rangers game is one week before the biggest game of the season so it’s one where we have to give the lads who are going to be playing their best chance to be ready, plus the subs as well who also need to be ready."

The TNS boss believes he knows almost 80 per cent of his starting line-up but thinks the Rangers game can still throw a few names into the mix; however, even Ruscoe would be surprised if latest signing Kurtis Byrne, who signed on Wednesday night, does enough to claim a starting place.

He added: "I’m happy with the starting line-up that we’ve near enough got as I’m thinking about the subs.

“There’s nine spots pretty sorted with two starting places up for grabs still – the other places can go either way and there’s still places to play for.

“When you’ve got a squad of 22, you need to have these headaches. You need to have that competitive squad but we’re seeing it in training. The edge is there and the togetherness is there too.

“Hopefully everything can click, and Rangers is the test of this because they are better than the side we’re going to be playing in Macedonia.

“We’ll see how are we are on Tuesday which is four weeks of training in.”