SCOTT Ruscoe believes his New Saints side can dream of a league and cup double after a run of five wins and one draw saw them finish the Welsh Premier League Phase One in second spot.

TNS are one point off leaders Barry Town following a 5-0 win over Llanelli Town on Saturday night and leapfrogged Connah’s Quay Nomads, who lost late on to Carmarthen.

Ruscoe insists his side are in control of their own destiny after they overhauled a six-point gap in six games, but admitted he is pleased to see teams below the title challengers giving their all.

“We’ve got 10 games to go, the league is in our hands and we’ve got to keep this run of form up with a cup game in between, which I don’t think will slow us down,” he said.

“We want that cup too – the double is on and from this position now, give it a real go and see where we are at the end of the season.

“We’ve had 16 points from 18 games since I asked us to win them all, and even against Bala with 10 men, we should have won.

“I’ve no complaints about the players hitting the targets we’ve set. The players are doing what we’ve asked them to and if you look at those games, we haven’t changed much of the line-up.

“We’ve been very good in that time and have transformed our mood. Training is stepped up and the players are getting to where we want to be.

“Don’t worry about other teams, though it was nice to see Nomads lose on Saturday. I did think Carmarthen would get a draw because they are two similar sides.

“I hadn’t seen it but, from what I was told, it does seem strange how Nomads conceded late on.

“But that’s good to see, even against us. We want teams to be at their best against us in this title race.

“We want them to have a go against Barry and Nomads in the same way they have go against us, and not just have different game plans.”

Ruscoe added that he expected his players to have some down time before their Welsh Cup clash at Broughton.

He added: “Before this weekend, the players will train for a couple of days before they have a long weekend to do what they want before being back in training on Monday.

“We will be doing our homework on Airbus that Saturday to see what they’re like – they’ve totally dominated that league they’re in and they’re going to be up for it.

“As for me, I won’t be going away. I have some work to do but was unable to get some of my pro-licence work done so will have until March for that.

“Then we’ll be back in on Monday for the hard work.”