Having secured their first trophy of the season by beating Swansea City in the Nathaniel MG Cup final last month, The New Saints will aim to take a step closer to a second piece of silverware this weekend.
Craig Harrison’s side face the challenge of a SPFL Trust Trophy semi-final on Saturday evening away at Falkirk, who themselves are also enjoying a victory-laden campaign so far.
The Bairns are currently 11 points clear at the top of Scottish League One – the third tier – and are yet to lose any of their 22 league matches this season, winning 17 and drawing five.
They have impressed in the SPFL Trust Trophy too, a competition the club has previously won four times, knocking out higher division opposition in Ayr United, Queen’s Park and Dundee United so far this term.
TNS boss Craig Harrison is all too aware of the task that awaits his team, having travelled to Scotland to watch Falkirk thrash Alloa Athletic 5-0 last weekend.
“They have got some very, very good players,” Harrison said. “I was at their game on Saturday and [assistant coach] Chris Seargeant watched them against Cove, so we have seen them live twice. I have watched five or six of their games through Wyscout as well.
“We know it is going to be a very tough game, we expect that as it is a semi-final. It will be even tougher as we are travelling away from home, but we are really looking forward to it.”
TNS are of course also in imperious form, having not lost a competitive fixture since bowing out of the UEFA Europa Conference League at the start of August.
They travel to Scotland on a run of 18 consecutive wins in all competitions and sit 15 points clear at the top of the JD Cymru Premier ahead of the start of phase two.
Their SPFL Trust Trophy journey so far has seen them progress past Hibernian B, East Fife and Arbroath to reach the semi-finals for the third time.
They have fallen at this hurdle on both of their previous appearances, losing to St Mirren in 2017 before defeat to Dumbarton in 2018.
Only one JD Cymru Premier club has previously reached the final of the competition, as Connah’s Quay Nomads were beaten by Ross County in the 2019 showpiece – when Craig Harrison was assistant manager to Andy Morrison.
“It is a competition that the Cymru Premier has embraced,” Harrison said. “I am fortunate that this will be the third semi-final that I will be involved in. We got beat by St Mirren in my first spell here and then I got to the final as assistant manager with Connah’s Quay Nomads.
“So all the teams that I have been involved with have held the cup in high regard. We want to compete in it and ideally we want to win it.”
Watch live coverage of Falkirk v The New Saints on S4C on Saturday 3 February (KO 19:40).
