A DEJECTED Scott Ruscoe admits he is feeling the pressure after his TNS side failed to make the Nathaniel MG Cup semi-final for the first time in five years after they were humbled by Cambrian & Clydach on Friday night.

The Welsh Football League Division One side scored twice in extra-time to dump The New Saints out of the competition in what is one of the biggest shocks of the season.

Ruscoe felt there is a nervousness about his side that comes from, in his view, not being ruthless enough in front of goal and putting his defensive unit under pressure.

"Of course you feel the pressure if you lose these games – of course you do," he said.

"We’re working hard enough in training and the quality is there but I do feel there’s a little bit of nervousness around the players at times during games.

"That always comes when the ‘normality’ of winning for TNS hasn’t been there. Everyone is human and that nervousness does get to certain players.

"You could see that the other night; we had all the possession early on and some excellent play but then we don’t score, that transfers to the other end where we defended a few set plays really well but they go and score one.

"If we don’t be ruthless in both boxes, we’re going to come up short and that’s the overall verdict of why we’re struggling.

"Our overall play has been really good at times, but we’re a little bit lacklustre and lacking confidence in certain areas."

Ruscoe insisted he felt the side he picked in the Rhondda Valley was good enough to win the game despite misgivings about changing his team.

"I’m obviously disappointed – the players that were chosen were more than capable enough of winning the game," he added.

"Some part of me was thinking that should we have kept a winning team together? But hindsight is a wonderful thing.

"I just thought that it’s the League Cup which is a little bit different and some players needed minutes so I just why not share them around.

"On the night, we had chances but we didn’t put them away and there’s always that threat of them scoring a set-play or a counter-attack too.

"You always want to win that competition, you want to gain momentum, push for more positive results and then that happens."