Scott Ruscoe wants his TNS side to strive for a string of results similar to the ones they had for their opening seven games of the season.

His side remains unbeaten after 10 games, having won eight and drawn two so far, with seven wins coming back to back.

However two of TNS’ draws have come in their last three games, and Ruscoe hopes his men can get back to winning ways, starting at home to Barry Town United on Saturday.

He said: “If you look at the last few games, we beat Haverfordwest in the last minute of the game and we’ve had a draw against Aber and Bala.

“I think we do need to get back to where we were in the first run of games this season.

“We had seven wins from seven with seven clean sheets. In comparison in the last few games, we’ve done OK but only OK.

“I think to live up to the standards we’ve set, we need to do better.

“If this is our little blip though and we’ve only drawn two games and stayed unbeaten, then I’ll be happy with that.

“To have eight wins, two draws and no defeats, as well as only conceding five goals, makes this one of our best starts in six years or thereabout.”

Saints take on a Barry side which has lost just two of their opening 10 matches, and Ruscoe expects a tough match.

He said: “Barry are a good side who always bring a decent, tough game.

“We always expect a tough game with them – they’re a really good footballing side and are coached well.”

“They know their roles and have some really good players there, and that shows in the good start they’ve had to the season.”

Saints shared the points at Bala last weekend with the match a replayed fixture from earlier in the season.

The last meeting between the two sides was abandoned with just minutes left to play after floodlights failed to work.

The sides were drawing 2-2 when their last meeting was abandoned, and their weekend fixture finished 1-1.

Ben Clark scored to put Saints ahead, but Bala veteran Chris Venables scored the equaliser.

Meanwhile Ruscoe praised Ben Clark, as the 19-year-old scored for the fourth time this season at Bala Town.

He said: “I thought in the last game between us we probably had more clear chances on goal and probably played better overall.

“Having said that I feel like we did enough to probably nick another goal in the most recent match and felt we could’ve hung on to the lead we got.

“It was a game of very few chances but was end-to-end.

“It would’ve been a good one to watch for spectators.

Ruscoe said: “It was Ben’s fourth goal and he’s improving through training and games constantly.

“He’s 19 and he’s only really in his second full season as a professional.”

Ruscoe added: “It’s excellent for Ben and for us because we now know we can call upon him if we need to and we know he will bring good performances for us as he has shown this season.”