THE New Saints boss Anthony Limbrick says he welcomes the pressure he is under to deliver European group stage football by owner Mike Harris after the club limped out of the Conference League.

A goalless draw in the second leg of their second qualifying round clash against Vikingur Reykjavik at Park Hall on Tuesday sealed their exit following a 2-0 first leg defeat last week.

Harris last week gave an interview stating he wanted group stage football 'within two-three years' a d Limbrick knows the failure to progress will bring pressure.

He said: "The pressure of winning and trying to progress and improve is what attracted me to the club.

"We all have the same targets and goals, which is great and what we want.

"I’ve been supported in the team recruitment and the training programme, and everything that has gone on here.

"We welcome that pressure here – it’s good and I want that to continue.

"We’ve come up short in this campaign but we want to improve and go again for next year."

Limbrick admitted he was left to think 'what if' on TNS's European dreams, after exiting the Champions League qualifying with a 2-1 aggregate defeat to Northern Irish side Linfield.

Having won the first leg 1-0, Saints were seconds away from booking a potential Conference League play-off spot but have now crashed out of Europe within a fortnight.

But he insists he was satisfied with his side's performance in the 0-0 draw on Tuesday.

"It is fine margins in Europe – we had a fine 1-0 win here over Linfield and we were evenly matched," he said.

"We were one minute away from seeing out a 0-0 and we would have received all the plaudits of defending well and keeping two straight clean sheets.

"Unfortunately we concede a sucker punch and we’ve got to change that.

"It’s very fine margins at this level, especially in the Champions League – we’ve come up short and we need to improve all around.

"I think we can improve for next season.

"We have to remember they’re an excellent side and one of the best we’ve played in Europe – Kristall Ingason is a top player.

"To keep them scoreless from open play was great.

"We played a diamond tonight and a winger at right back and we gave it go, although the scoreline doesn’t reflect that.

"We came up short over the two legs.

"It was a good start – we wanted to start brightly and carried that on to the half hour mark.

"The players gave it everything, we were brave in selection and how we took the game to them but you need an early goal to get everyone up.

"I don’t think we could have done much more."