TNS 'can't feel sorry' for themselves after Champions League exit
The New Saints head coach Craig Harrison says his side cannot feel sorry for themselves following their Champions League exit. The Cymru Premier champions went out 4-1 on aggregate after losing the second leg to Sabah, champions of Azerbaijan.
Saints now drop into the Uefa Conference League and will face Flora Tallinn in Estonia next Thursday. Harrison insists the team must refocus ahead of the challenge.
Harrison acknowledged his team's failings against Sabah. "We ve given everything we have but we ve not been good enough and Sabah have been better than us so we ve got to accept that," he told BBC Radio Shropshire. "When we had moments good times or good spells ultimately we didn't convert that pressure into goals."
Despite the defeat, Harrison highlighted positives to take forward. "But there's lots of positives as we re moving into the next game. It's not going to be easy but if we combine the two performances then we ll give ourselves a great chance of going through."
The manager identified missed opportunities early in the tie. "We had a couple of good chances before they scored and it would have been interesting to see what would have happened after that," he explained. Goals from Joy-Lance Mickels and Rahman Dashdamirov put Sabah in control by half-time, when the scoreline stood at 2-0.
Saints were severely hampered by injuries across both legs. Striker Brad Young, who rejoined the club during the close season, was absent through injury. Adam Wilson, Ben Wilson and Rory Holden were among other absentees. "We had eight players that weren't available to start the game and all of them would have been in contention," Harrison said. "But no excuses at all because I thought the lads that came in did extremely well worked so hard and took their opportunity."
On his team's mindset, Harrison concluded: "I said to the boys let's go and win the second half don't cower down or shrink into a shell I would rather us get beaten heavily than shy away."