CRAIG HARRISON is certainly well versed in what it takes to lift the Welsh Cup trophy aloft.

And the four-time winner wants to help Connah’s Quay Nomads wrestle back the trophy they won in 2018 from former club The New Saints.

Harrison led the Oswestry-based outfit to four Welsh Cup wins during his time at Park Hall, and the 41-year-old will always have a special connection with the competition.

“Obviously at TNS it was all about making sure we won the league first, but when I was at Airbus it was always special and we got to the quarter-finals, where we got beat 5-0 by Bangor,” said Harrison.

“With TNS I was in five out of a potential six finals and won four, lost one and got beat in the semi-finals by Bangor at Rhyl in the last minute - not that I remember!

“It’s a very, very special cup. It’s a very old and prestigious cup. If you look back through the history to when the English-based Welsh clubs were involved like Wrexham, Cardiff and Swansea - they’ve all won it.

“It’s a great opportunity as well to get into Europe, which is the be-all and end-all.”

Harrison is part of the Nomads’ backroom staff that helped guide the Flintshire outfit to a second successive final last year, but they came unstuck as The New Saints secured a 3-0 win.

That defeat followed up a Scottish Challenge Cup final loss to Ross County as an impressive 2018/19 campaign finished without the reward of silverware.

“I came in halfway through the season and I imagine the remit was always to get European football, which we did, quite comfortably in the end,” reflected Harrison.

“It’s always tough to get to a cup final, especially two, and to get beaten.

“With the Scottish Challenge Cup final we were winning at half-time, we’d played so well and missed a couple of opportunities to go 2-0 up and who knows what would have happened.

“We also acquitted ourselves really well against TNS in the final. We had opportunities and two nailed on penalties turned down, in my opinion. Maybe they might have sneaked victory, but it should have been closer - 3-0 was flattering.”

Standing between Nomads, in League Cup final action next Saturday, and a place in the quarter-finals are Cymru South side Afan Lido, who visit the Deeside Stadium tomorrow.

Lido, sixth in the league below, have plenty of top-flight experience in their ranks, and Nomads certainly won’t be taking them lightly.

“We’ve done everything we could in terms of knowing about them,” said Harrison, who has seen boss Andy Morrison journey south twice to scout Lido. “They’ve got a few ex-Cymru Premier players in Liam McCreesh, Chris Jones, who I had for two years at TNS, and there are three or four more, including Kaid Mohammed, so they’ve got good experience and good quality in their squad.

“It’s certainly not a game we will take lightly because a win would get us into the quarter-finals.”

Captain George Horan and wingers Michael Bakare and Ryan Wignall are all pushing for starts for Nomads after coming off the bench in the 2-1 defeat to TNS at Park Hall last weekend.

Scott Ruscoe, meanwhile, has hinted at changes to his side for tomorrow’s home tie with Aberystwyth Town.

Keston Davies and Ryan Brobbel will be available after suspension for Ruscoe, who said: “Obviously we want to go as far as we can in it. It’s the only cup competition we are still in and we are the holders.

“We don’t want anyone taking our cup off us, and although we might make a couple of changes, it will be a very strong team.”

There is another all-Cymru Premier tie tonight as Penybont entertain Cardiff Met.