TNS boss hungry to taste second leg success after heavy Champions League defeat
Craig Harrison insists his focus is on The New Saints trying to win next week’s Champions League second leg after the Park Hall side were beaten 5-0 by Hungarian champions Ferencváros.
Tuesday night’s result in Budapest against a strong team featuring a number of internationals leaves Saints severely up against it in terms of making further progress in the competition.
If they do exit the Champions League at the second qualifying round stage, their European campaign would still continue as Saints would then enter the Europa League at the third qualifying round stage and play either Cypriot side APOEL or Moldova’s FC Petrocub
Head coach Harrison said: “There’s no thought about anything apart from next Tuesday – we want to win the game at Park Hall. Look, 5-0, it’s going to take a momentous effort to go anywhere near going through, but we want to win the game.
“At Park Hall we’ve got a good record and we’ll be doing our utmost to win the actual leg.
“We might not actually win the tie, but for co-efficiency points, for our confidence, for performances moving into the next competition then we want to go and win the game.”
There was no stopping Ferencváros in the Hungarian capital once they scored three goals inside 10 minutes to open up a 3-0 advantage just past the midway point of the first half.
Adama Traore’s header gave the hosts a 14th minute lead and he quickly struck again with a composed finish.
Norway international midfielder Kristoffer Zachariassen then further extended the lead.
Winger Traore, a Mali international, completed his hat-trick early in the second half with a header, before Brazilian striker Marquinhos made it 5-0 from a penalty just past the hour.
Saints were unfortunate not to score when a fine effort from Jordan Williams hit the crossbar on the stroke of half time.
Declan McManus also had a late chance but his close range effort was saved by home goalkeeper Denes Dibusz.
Reflecting on the match, Harrison said: “It’s obviously disappointment. No-one wants to get beat, let alone 5-0, so, yes, it’s disappointment, of course it’s disappointment.
“We came here with a game plan and unfortunately At the end of the day they were better than us and they scored five goals which is really tough to take but it is what it is.
“There’s no surprise because on any one given day they had a very good day today. Their two wingers were outstanding and they’re a good team.
“Our boys did excellent, really well. At no point did they mope. No one got their head down, no one gave up, everyone worked hard right to the end and that’s the most important thing.”
On conceding three times inside 10 minutes in the first half, Harrison added: “The first 30 minutes they were very good. Obviously came out of the blocks, a new manager, back into the Champions League and they obviously wanted to make a statement.
“We did struggle a little bit with the intensity of the first 30 minutes, which is understandable.
“They were right at it, the crowd was right behind them. They’ve got a bumper crowd in here tonight and they’ve been wanting this game, building up for this game for the last four, five, six weeks and they came at us and unfortunately we conceded three goals in that time.”
Next Tuesday’s return leg against Ferencváros in Oswestry kicks off at Park Hall at 6.30pm.
