Craig Harrison aims to take TNS second chance
Craig Harrison quickly turned his European focus to the Conference League after The New Saints were knocked out of the Europa League by Moldovan champions FC Petrocub.
Saints are striving to make history by becoming the first team from the JD Cymru Premier to qualify for the league phase of a European competition.
They hoped it would come via progress from Tuesday night’s Europa League third qualifying round return leg at Park Hall.
But there was to be no way through for Saints as the match in Oswestry ended in a 0-0 draw, with Petrocub progressing 1-0 on aggregate.
Saints will still have have another opportunity to extend this season’s European adventure. They will play the losers of the Europa League third qualifying round tie between Lithuania’s FK Panevezys and Maccabi Tel-Aviv of Israel in the Conference League play-offs.
A single deflected goal in the first leg in Chisinau was ultimately all that separated the sides in Saints’ two matches against Petrocub.
Speaking after Tuesday night’s game, TNS head coach Harrison said: “When you look back and you look at it and you think that’s the difference, but that’s football at the highest level, isn’t it?
“You would like to think that somewhere along the line maybe a little bit of lady luck will be on our side in the next round.
“I’m a big believer, you do the right things, you work hard, you prepare right and you get what you deserve in the end over a period of time.
“Obviously, I don’t think we got what we deserved over the two ties.
“I thought we were ultimately the better team over the two ties, but they scored more goals than us, whether that be a deflected 30-yarder or not, and that’s the facts of it,” said Harrison. “We make sure we stay honest, we don’t sulk, we don’t feel sorry for ourselves, we don’t go and cower in the corner, and we get on with it.
“We are disappointed, of course we are, and it’s a really bad trait of mine, a lot of stuff I take a long time to get over things in general, but I’ve got to lead by example and go, no, we’ll get on with it because it’s not often in football you get a second bite at the cherry.
“The final whistle’s gone from that competition and We’re in another competition, so we’ve got a great opportunity to make sure we take all the negatives and learning curves from that and we take it into the Europa Conference.”
The breakthrough Saints wanted against Petrocub proved elusive on a night both teams were reduced to 10 men in the first half.
Saints’ Jordan Williams was shown a straight red after catching Ion Jardan with an elbow in the 40th minute, with Williams dismissed following a VAR review.
Petrocub’s Dan Puscas was also sent off shortly after, receiving a second yellow card for a challenge on Josh Daniels.
Asked for his emotions following the match, Harrison said: “I think it’s just disappointment, it’s frustration.”
He added: “It was a good opportunity - obviously, we didn’t take it.”
