Scott Ruscoe is hoping The New Saints will carry the confidence gained from their last outing into Friday night’s vital league clash with Barry Town United.

Saints are currently second in the JD Cymru Premier table after picking up just one point from their last three league games.

On Saturday, the side turned their attention to cup football, and picked up a 6-1 victory over Newtown to book their spot in the Welsh Cup semi-finals.

Ruscoe hopes his team will put on another good performance on Friday night when they host the South Wales club.

“Looking ahead to Barry, a team that have already beaten us this season at home, we have to make sure we are aware of their strengths,” he said.

“We can’t let them play like they like to play on the break very quickly.

“We know they look at set plays and we’ve conceded a few from those this season, so it’s something we’ve got to be very wary of.

“[Saturday was] a great result for us, and if you look at that as a response to the last three matches we’ve played, where we’ve picked up just one point, it’s a great response.

“It’s vital that we bounce back in the league, and that result gives us a confidence boost – it shows we’re not done and we’re in good shape.”

Last time TNS faced Barry, they picked up an impressive 4-1 away win, during a phase in the season which saw Ruscoe’s side string together five consecutive wins.

With his side now sitting four points behind the top spot, Ruscoe believes his squad has what it takes to win their final seven league games.

He said: “We have a big squad to choose from for the last seven league games, and we’re all going to fight together to win it.

“Recent weeks show we can bounce back from a couple of bad results with a great performance.

“We were never really too concerned about scoring goals; we’ve scored five, six, 10 and 12 at points this season.

“We’re aware at times certain teams will set up to try to stifle our attacking players.

“I wouldn’t criticise our attacking players, because they’ve been brilliant over the past few seasons.

“It’s similar with our defence, when we’ve conceded a few goals over the past few games, we need to be able to pick ourselves up and get ready for the next game.

“I’d never blame any department within the team for a bad result – it’s a team game.”

Ruscoe added: “We can’t just perform that well one week and then put in an average performance the week after – it has to be consistent.

“We set benchmarks through the season and at points we’ve fallen below those this season.

“But the lads know how important this stage of the season is and know the task ahead.

“As long as we look after our own game we won’t go far wrong.”

TNS will host Barry Town United at Park Hall Stadium on Friday (kick-off 8pm).