The New Saints boss Scott Ruscoe admits his side’s delight at the draw against a Champions League preliminary round winner has been tempered by a reduction in preparation time.

TNS will play one of four clubs – Lincoln Red Imps, Tre Penne, Feronikeli and FC Santa Coloma – in the first qualifying round next month, but their opponents will not be decided until June 28.

But Ruscoe insists he and his staff will have his players fully focused on the task in hand, and will watch the two semi-finals on Tuesday in person before the clash on July 9 at Park Hall.

“Not finding out who we are getting until the end of June has put a bit of a dampener on the draw,” he said.

“It does impact on you time and preparation but we’re looking to go next Tuesday and watch all four games because it’s all being played in the same place in Kosovo. So from that point of view it’s not that bad, because they’ll be all in one place so we can assess their strengths and weaknesses.

“In terms of Lincoln Red Imps, we know them from last year and I got to see some of their players last week for Gibraltar against the Republic of Ireland. They do well, punch above their weight and it’s always a tight game against Gibraltan teams – they’re no pushovers and we won’t be taking them lightly.”

Two of the four are known to TNS having faced – and beaten – Tre Penne and Lincoln Red Imps before, but Ruscoe is still expecting a test.

He added: “Tre Penne are not unknown as we’ve played them before and it was probably of the easier games we’ve had in Europe over the two legs. We’ll do our homework and make sure no stone is unturned. It could have been worse and gone to Poland or Iceland, both strong countries in the last few years.

“We escaped those and Linfield too, so we’d be happy with the draw and make sure we do everything to get through.”