The New Saints boss Scott Ruscoe admitted he was left feeling low after his JD Cymru Premier Division table-toppers were stunned by Cardiff Met on Friday night.

Ryan Brobbel's goal was not enough to earn the Saints a point as they were beaten 2-1 by the Students, who had a man sent off in stoppage-time, with TNS unable to cope with a powerhouse first half from Cardiff.

And Ruscoe admitted he felt his players could have reacted stronger in the second period to being a goal down, as their lead at the top of the table was reduced to one point.

"I'm disappointed and frustrated – I spoke in the meeting with the lads yesterday that Met were on a bad run of results but they will want to come and win," he said.

"They're not even in the top six; coming here and getting three points is probably the biggest part of their season.

"And it looked like that from the start of the game because they gave it a decent go. They're a good side and that starting XI was very good – they're in a false position.

"Yes, I'm disappointed because we just couldn't get the second half going but we had chances to level and even go on and win the game.

"I wasn't shocked at how in our face they were. I think we got a bit of joy from playing it a longer into Aeron Edwards and Adrian Cieslewicz.

"Sometimes, if opposition sides are trying to press you, you can miss them out. And we scored a great goal down the right with the ball into Cies and Aeron so there's more than one way to win a game.

"I am disappointed we didn't do that more but they got back ahead of the game with a Ryan Harrington slip – otherwise they wouldn't have.

"The boys have got to manage the games themselves, know when they're in the ascendency and play around them but it go too scrappy.

"It never got going second half; they wanted to take the time and energy out of the game,

"It was a tough few minutes for Ryan – he missed the chance where it was harder to hit the ball at the keeper and then he slipped for the goal. It's a mistake.

"I'm not going to slate him for slipping over on an icy pitch and making a mistake."