The New Saints boss Scott Ruscoe believes tomorrow night's Europa League opponents FC Midtjylland have proper European pedigree as TNS aim to reach the play-off round for the first time.

Saints face the Danes, who beat Manchester United 2-1 in the Round of 32 first leg clash in 2016, though United steamrollered them in the second leg.

But Ruscoe believes his side have momentum after narrowly losing to KF Shkendija in the Champions League and getting past Lincoln Red Imps after dropping into the Europa League.

"FC Midtjylland are probably the first real name we’ve come up against in this European campaign," he said. "They’ve been champions of their country and have started well in their league campaign this year.

"They’re run on the ‘Moneyball’ system, which is based on statistical analysis of the player’s performances rather on what the players do. There’s no hiding place for the players they sign because of it i.e. if they want a player that heads the ball, they use the data to find one.

"We have momentum though; we’ve been in two months already and we’ve had a long pre-season. We’re in good shape and in a place were we can use the squad and players have minutes under their belt, and others can play catch up.

"We can make sure everyone knows their jobs going into the next few games because they are biggest we’ve faced.

"I don’t think Midtjylland won’t be mentally ready despite going out of the Champions League. they played last Saturday, they’re professional and they’ll w ant a run in this competition.

"I don’t think we can take them lightly at all. They’re top professionals and them going out of the cup won’t give us extra opportunity."

"But we’ve had this extra taste of the Champions League and the Europa League too so it’s been good for us and we’ll give everything a go.

"We’ve got as full as squad as possible top choose from. Tactically, we’re expecting a 3-4-3 with a rotating front three with a powerful number nine. We’ve seen the recent footage and he’s a good player.

"They can play and bring the ball out of defence so we’ll set up to deal with that."