DANNY HOLMES knows what it's like to be part of a TNS team that fails to win the Welsh Premier League.

And the former Football League defender believes Connah's Quay Nomads have as good a chance as any team has had in the last eight years of ending The New Saints' top-flight dominance.

Holmes won the title in his first season at The New Saints in 2009/10, but Bangor City pulled off a memorable title win 12 months later by beating the Park Hall outfit 1-0 on the final day to finish top by two points.

"We got pipped on the last day of the season," reflected Holmes, who left for Tranmere Rovers after the last day heartbreak.

"We only needed a draw and Bangor knew they had to win, which was a massive factor.

"At that time we were dominating games, but in the last game we sat back because we only needed a draw and that worked against us.

"It was great to get to that stage, but not winning was hard to take."

Holmes, who counts Newport County among his former clubs, can see similarities between that Saints' squad and the current Nomads one.

"At that time we had a really strong team, so we went into every game looking to win it, and it’s no different here," he said.

"We’ve got a really good manager and a really good team."

Nomads head into Saturday's televised encounter at the Deeside Stadium two points ahead of Saints, who have a game in-hand in their quest to secure an eighth successive league title.

Holmes is delighted to be part of Andy Morrison's title chasing squad, who are also in the Scottish Challenge Cup final and last four of the Welsh Cup.

The 30-year-old said: "It’s brilliant. I’ve come here to win things and we are doing really well in all competitions.

"There have been loads of games, but you want to be in the latter stages of competitions – semi-finals and finals – so long may it continue.

"There is, but we will take each game as it comes as we can’t look too far ahead because once you do that then things can unravel, so we take one game at time."

On the challenge of facing Scott Ruscoe's Saints, Holmes continued: "It’s always great playing against them because you want to test yourselves against the better teams in the league.

"We can’t wait for what will hopefully be a good game.

"It’s got to a stage where everyone sees TNS as the winners of the league, but hopefully this year it won’t happen and I think we’ve got a good chance of stopping their run."

Holmes will see a number of familiar faces as Saints visit Flintshire, including goalkeeper Paul Harrison and boss Ruscoe.

But there will be no pleasantries in the lead up to the clash, Holmes saying: "A lot of the lads are still there from my time.

"I think that’s the thing at TNS, players seem to stay there a long time.

"I know a few of them and I won’t be speaking to them this week!"