TNS sack boss after Bala draw as Canaries held in late goal rush
Welcome return for Welsh Premier action
THE New Saints have sacked manager Scott Ruscoe and his assistant Steve Evans in the wake of the goalless draw at home to Bala Town at the weekend as the Cymru Premier League finally returned to action.
An entertaining clash at the Park Hall Stadium could easily have been a high-scoring affair but in the event neither side could quite break the deadlock, Simon Spender being ruled offside after netting for TNS in the first half.
Bala remain comfortably in third, with their place in the top half after the split assured, and next travel to struggling Cefn Druids.
Even though the Lakesiders were the first team not to return home emptyhanded from TNS this season, it meant Ruscoe’s side lost their advantage over arch-rivals Connah’s Quay Nomads, who now trail them by a point with a game in hand.
Ruscoe has been at the club as player assistant manager and manager since 2002. He took over as manager in 2017.
The club’s head of coaching Christian Seargeant will take temporary charge of team affairs.
● Caernarfon drew 2-2 with basement side Aberystwyth after a dramatic late goal flurry at the Oval.
With just five minutes to go the visitors looked set to hold on to a surprise victory through John Owen’s 39th-minute strike.
But 19-year-old Jake Bickerstaff, on loan from Wrexham, levelled for the Canaries on 85 and Sion Bradley put them ahead just two minutes later with a neat strike from a tight angle.
The three points looked secure as time ran out but Aberystwyth snatched an equaliser in the fifth minute of stoppage time, Jamie Veale finding the net with a superb free kick over the Caernarfon wall from just outside the area.
Caernarfon next travel to Flint Town on Saturday.
● It could be all change at the top of the JD Cymru Premier League this morning: champions Connah’s Quay made the short trip to lowly Flint Town United last night after the Mail went to press knowing that a win would take them two points ahead of TNS.
Goals from veterans George Horan and Mike Wilde ensured Andy Morrison’s men stormed back to beat Newtown 2-1 at home at the weekend despite being down to 10 men for much of the game following Jamie Insall’s sending off in the 24th minute of the contest.
That made life more difficult than it should have been for the defending champions on their return to action after an 11-week lay-off and they were forced to come from behind after Alex Fletcher opened the scoring in the 16th minute.
It was Newtown’s second game in a week and they were hoping for a second win to move them further away from the relegation zone.
But the champions, with new signing Neil Danns proving influential in midfield, hit back to take the points. The Nomads are now in the box seat in thetitle race.