ANDY MORRISON believes Scott Ruscoe’s latest ‘disrespectful’ comments prove he’s a man under “incredible pressure” after Connah’s Quay Nomads beat The New Saints 1-0 to move four points clear at the top.

Craig Curran’s smart finish settled a contest played in awful conditions in Nomads’ favour, but Saints’ boss Ruscoe was bullish at the final whistle.

“There are seven games to go. We’ll beat Connah’s Quay at home, so we’ll be hoping for someone else to get a draw,” said Ruscoe, who repeated his thoughts to the club’s media team.

“We are being pushed, but we’ve been pushed by better teams than Connah’s Quay,” he continued. “We’ll beat Connah’s Quay at home, they will drop a point or two and we’ll be alright.”

With seven games remaining and a four-point gap to close, Ruscoe remains “more than hopeful” of making it nine successive titles.

“They aren’t going to win seven games in a row, no doubt about it. No chance,” he declared.

Morrison had time to give a measure response to Ruscoe’s post-match comments, the Nomads’ boss speaking to the club’s media team the day after the game.

He said: “It could be put down to pressure. I think the messages from the Welsh family, it’s probably upset a lot more people than it has me - it doesn’t surprise me one bit any more.

“It goes back to comments earlier in the season when they lost a game of football and straight away it was ‘It doesn’t matter, we’ll win the league’. That’s a disdain for every other team in the league. Would you hear Neil Lennon or Steven Gerrard come out after a couple of games and say ‘It doesn’t matter, we’ll win the league?’ It is the height of disrespect for everything about the Cymru Premier.

“Going forward it makes it more interesting because that lack of respect for other players and other clubs, who dare to turn up and have a go at TNS.”

Morrison has nothing but respect for Saints’ squad, the spine of which has reeled off eight successive titles, but the former Manchester City captain feels their manager is doing them little favour.

“The comments were saying ‘We’ll win every game, we’re better than everybody else’,” added Morrison. “When you stick your chest out like that and give those comments - I understand it, it’s the position the man finds himself in, under incredible pressure, incredible pressure - he has to show some sort front.

“I can’t say anything disrespectful about TNS. I can’t. They’ve been champions for so many years.

“I’ve watched them, I’ve been envious on so many occasions and spoke of my admiration, on many occasions, for the spine of the team, and they’ve been a credit to the league.

“At the minute, they’re being let down by a lot of crass talk that’s disrespectful to everyone else in the league, and that’s not how I see those players, who have the ability to go and win every game left this season.”

Morrison believes Nomads’ win, which made it five in a row in all competitions since losing 2-1 to the Saints at Park Hall, shows the belief in his squad.

“We’ve been exceptional, leading into the game at TNS, which we lost 2-1 and was a travesty, and it’s carried on since then,” he said.

“We are in a rich vein of form and there’s an incredible energy in the changing room, the lads are absolutely buoyant at the minute and long may that continue.

“They are doing a lot of things right and they deserve a lot of credit, which comes at the end of the season. Now is not the time to be talking.

“As I said after the game, we went to Park Hall and we took so much out of the game, the boys grew in stature and belief.

“It was a great night for everyone connected with the club.”