TNS boss Scott Ruscoe has praised the mood in the camp as they face their first title clash of the Welsh Premier League second phase on Saturday.

Barry Town United come to Park Hall with both sides still in title contention along with leaders Connahs Quay Nomads.

Ruscoe is expecting a tough test from Barry but insists his players are responding to a mix of time off and hard-work in training.

“We’ve mixed it up and not just run them into the ground because we had a free week,” said Ruscoe. “We’ve gone the other way around. Time off when we need to and push them hard when we need to.

“We had a few lads with niggles on Friday so it was great to get them off with the job done. It’s possible this is me learning as a manager but before me we used to work the lads harder towards the end of the season..

“But if you work, work, work them, then you get injuries and it affects the mindset of the players, especially. I think our senior players are responding really well because we treat them like adults.

“They can have time with their families or if they’re single, a few beers with their mates. They’re all at different ages and levels but they all understand what we want from them. Part of that is winning all our home games and take points off the teams around us.”

Ruscoe warned Barry would be bidding for an upset.

“Barry will have a point to prove,” said Ruscoe. “They’ve lost their best player but have good forward players so we have to be aware of that. Our defenders can’t be watching the game.”