TNS boss Craig Harrison has Arbroath well scouted ahead of SPFL Trust Trophy tie

Both TNS head coach Craig Harrison and his assistant Chris Seargeant recently travelled to Scotland to watch this weekend’s opponents.

Saints have got the better of two Scottish teams to book a place in the last eight. The Park Hall side, nine points clear at the top of the JD Cymru Premier, followed up a 3-0 away win over Hibernian’s B team by beating East Fife on penalties, after a 2-2 draw, in the last round.

Currently second-bottom in the Championship, the second tier of Scottish football, Arbroath have lost their last four league matches, but in between they did win 2-1 at Queen of the South in the last round of the SPFL Trust Trophy.

Harrison said: “Fortunately, myself and Sarge have been to two of their last four games, so we’ve managed to see them live twice now, once at Dundee United, and on Saturday at Airdrieonians, so we’ve got a good idea.

“Obviously, other footage, Wyscout etcetera, but It’s important that we’ve been to see them live, as I had done with East Fife and with Hibernian, so it was something that was really important, which is with any opponent. I like to try and see them live.”

A much-changed TNS team made progress in another cup competition last weekend as they beat lower division Trethomas Bluebirds 7-0 in the third round of the JD Welsh Cup.

“Obviously, we were heavy favourites playing Trethomas from two leagues below us,” added Harrison. “But I had the opportunity to change 11 players, give the goalkeeper (Jack Edwards) his senior debut, Tom Jones, who just turned 18 on the day, I think that’s only his second start.“Gwion Dafydd, 18 as well, gets his second hat-trick in two rounds of the competition, so it was a really good opportunity for the young lads. Senior players that have not had much game time through injury or whatever, they got 90 minutes as well, so overall it was a really good day.”