Saints Hoping to Make Impression against Bulgarians
Match is Live on S4/C this evening on Sgorio. Coverage starts at 7:25pm
Europa League Play-off Second leg, Racecourse, Wrexham
Thursday, 26 August (Kick-off: 19:35)
For 81 minutes last week, it looked as though TNS had played themselves into a fantastic position for this evening's return leg at the Racecourse, as they held Bulgarian giants CSKA Sofia 0-0 in their away leg. But then a triple salvo from the hosts has severely dented the Welsh side's hopes of becoming the first Welsh Premier League side to book a place in the Group stages of a European Competition.
That said, the New Saints manager Mike Davies has told the BBC that his side can make an impression in the second leg of their Europa League play-off against CSKA Sofia in Wrexham and the real optimist will sight the fact that the Saints have won a European match this season by the exact scoreline that they require this evening, 4-0 against Irish Champions Bohemians.
"The lads are hungry and they've got a point to prove, they know they weren't three goals worse than CSKA, it will be a good contest," said Davies.
"We'll play the way we normally play and go at them to try and get the result that we need.
"We've taken a lot of positives from the first leg, we probably sat off and gave them too much respect, but you don't really know how good these teams are until you get out on the pitch with them.
"We'll play a little bit higher, try and get at get at them a bit more and stop them from having the time that they did, and hopefully that will cause them problems and we'll be able to capitalise."
Extra spice has been added to the contest by the Welsh side's claim that their opponents should be thrown out of the Europa League for breaking financial and administrative rules.
"UEFA checked a couple of their players from the first leg, but they've told us they were eligible," TNS general manager Ian Williams told BBC Radio Shropshire.
"But they are in disarray and there could be questions to be asked over the financial aspects of the club. Our enquiries won't stop."
