The New Saints will continue their journey in the SPFL Trust Trophy when they host East Fife in the fourth round on Saturday (KO 17:15).
Craig Harrison’s team eased past Hibernian B in round three, with goals from Ben Clark and Brad Young, after Darren McGregor’s own goal, earning a 3-0 win at Meadowbank Stadium.
A place in the quarter-finals is now at stake, with TNS aiming to progress to the last eight for the first time since 2017/18 when they reached the semi-finals.
They head into the tie in impressive form, having won their last six matches in all competitions and scoring 25 goals in the process. They are currently four points clear at the top of the JD Cymru Premier table.
Meanwhile, East Fife are currently eighth out of 10 teams in the Scottish fourth tier. It has been a tricky start to the campaign for Greig McDonald’s side, but they are unbeaten in their last four matches – including a 2-1 comeback victory over Albion Rovers in the third round of the SPFL Trust Trophy.
“Obviously, we’re not going to take anything for granted – far from it,” Craig Harrison said in his pre-match press conference. “We don’t do that in general. We’ll give respect to every team we play, do our due diligence.
“I travelled up there the day after we travelled down to Cardiff on the Friday night, so it would have been quite easy for me not to go and sat at home and then watched all the Wyscout clips, but I think it’s important.
“We’ve done all we can, we know all we know, and we’re preparing as usual. Whether it was a European game, a [Nathaniel] MG Cup game, a Welsh Cup game or a domestic league game, we’re taking it as serious as what we can because it’s the next game, so it’s the most important one.”
