The New Saints manager Scott Ruscoe says his team lack a cutting edge after a late penalty saw Caernarfon Town snatch all three points from Park Hall.

Saints slipped to a successive defeat when Nathan Craig thumped an 86th-minute spot-kick past Paul Harrison to dent their title defence.

“I just think we’re lucky in that cutting edge at the moment,” said Ruscoe post-match.

“As a group we’re just getting frustrated and trying to force things and not play in the right way.

“We’re not having an extra touch – we’re just forcing things too much.”

The defending champions remain third in the table with joint-leaders Connah’s Quay and Barry Town facing each other this afternoon.

The New Saints’ best chance of the game fell to Aeron Edwards on the half hour. He looked destined to score as he took the ball around Caernarfon keeper Alex Ramsey, but a poor touch allowed the Cofis were able to recover.

“Just didn’t fall right for him – he took it around the goalkeeper and just put it the wrong side, but it’s the way at the moment,” rued Ruscoe.

“Nothing’s really going for us, we’re not having the rub of the green. We usually have it ad we usually have it our own way.”

“We need to regroup and get to together and make sure we’re in it come the next training session and we give it a right go next Saturday because that’s another important game.”

Caernarfon grew in confidence as the game wore on and it took a superb block on a goal-bound shot from young Saints defender Joash Nembhard to deny them the lead.

With the game heading into the final stages, Ben Cabango’s clumsy challenge on Noah Edwards inside the box saw the defender receive his second yellow card of the night, and Craig capitalised from the spot to put Caernarfon in front with his third penalty in two matches.

“We’re not creating that many chances and it starts to affect everybody confidence-wise when you’re not creating and making the opposition work.

“You want the opposition dead on their feet, tonight they weren’t and they were allowed to get back into the game and that’s what has allowed them to get that penalty.”

Fourth-placed Bala Town also moved level on points with The New Saints following a 4-2 victory at Llandudno.

Not even the arrival of veteran scorer Gary Taylor-Fletcher could lift Llandudno out of their winless stretch – despite the ex-Blackpool striker marking his debut with two goals.

Taylor-Fletcher’s near-post finish cancelled out Steve Tames first-half strike, but the Lakesiders quickly restored their lead with Tames adding a second just two-minutes later.

Henry Jones, with an unstoppable drive from the edge of the area, and Chris Venables extended Bala Town’s lead, before Taylor-Fletcher pulled one back late on for the hosts.

Friday: Llandudno 2-4 Bala Town, The New Saints 0-1 Caernarfon Town. Saturday: Carmarthen v Cefn Druids Connah’s Quay v Barry Town, Newtown v Llanelli. Sunday: Cardiff Met v Aberystwyth.

Pos.	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Connah’s Quay Nomads	13	9	1	3	32	11	21	28
2	Barry Town United FC	13	9	1	3	20	16	4	28
3	The New Saints	14	8	2	4	36	10	26	26
4	Bala Town	14	8	2	4	27	20	7	26
5	Newtown	13	6	3	4	20	15	5	21
6	Aberystwyth Town	13	6	2	5	16	20	-4	20
7	Caernarfon Town	13	5	4	5	13	16	-3	19
8	Cardiff Metropolitan University	13	5	2	6	17	17	0	17
9	Cefn Druids	13	3	4	6	15	16	-1	13
10	Carmarthen Town AFC	13	3	3	7	15	27	-12	12
11	Llandudno FC	14	2	3	9	10	24	-14	9
12	Llanelli Town AFC	13	2	1	10	12	41	-29	7