TNS welcome Scottish Championship side Dumbarton to Park Hall in the semi-finals of the IRN-Bru Cup on Saturday (7.35).

The clash represents the Saints biggest test since their UEFA Champions League adventure last summer and provides manager Scott Ruscoe with a chance to break new ground for the club.

Last season the Saints lost at the semi-final stage to St Mirren and Ruscoe is desperate to succeed where predecessor Craig Harrison failed in taking the Oswestry club to the final.

Ruscoe said: “We’ve got to be patient to break them down. We don’t like to talk about complacency but it’s in our minds every time we go out to play our game.

“We can’t take for granted that we’ve got a home tie and think that it’s all done and dusted. We need to do our work early on and get through to a final and make it a great day for the club.”

The Saints go into the game with a commanding 12 point lead at the top of the JD Welsh Premier and still on course for a clean sweep of silverware this season.

“It’s not the usual rigmarole of our league campaign,” said Ruscoe. “It’s a cup semi-final and we want to go one better than last year and reach the final.

“Dumbarton are a very good side but if we could go one further and reach the final we’ll have met one of our objectives from the start of the season.”

Ruscoe is expecting a tough test from the Glasgow club which will arrive on the Welsh borders with confidence despite being second from bottom in the Scottish Championship.

“We’re expecting a strong challenge from them,” said Ruscoe. “They might come to contain us as a lot of teams have at Park Hall.

“We’ve been beaten by Barry Town United and Newtown at home and Dumbarton are better than those both those teams so we have to be on our guard on Saturday.”