A former youth team player with Stoke City and Port Vale, he made his first-team debut at League of Wales side Newtown in 1997.
[3] He played a total of 37 league and cup games across the 2000–01 campaign, as the "Blues" posed an eighth-place finish under the stewardship of Graham Barrow.
However, he lost his first-team place at the Deva Stadium after new manager Gordon Hill was sacked early in the 2001–02 season.
He missed just two league games in the 2002–03 season and scored nine goals in his 32 appearances, though TNS again finished as runners-up to Barry Town.
He scored the winning goal in the last minute of extra time in the 2011 Welsh League Cup final, a 4–3 victory over Llanelli at Park Avenue.
He also holds the league record for the most European appearances – with 30 games in total and was named Clubman of the Year by the Football Association of Wales in 2014.
[12][13][14] On 20 January 2018, he secured his first silverware as manager, as Saints won the Welsh League Cup final with a 1–0 victory over Cardiff Metropolitan University.
[15] He went on to lead the club to the Welsh Premier League title at the end of the 2017–18 season, as the Saints finished 14 points clear of second-place Bangor City.
[18] They defeated Gibraltarian side Lincoln Red Imps in the second round of Europa League qualification, before being beaten 5–1 on aggregate by Danish club Midtjylland.
[20] They ended the 2019–20 campaign as runners-up after finishing behind Connah's Quay Nomads on points per game; the season had been curtailed early due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales.
[22] Ruscoe was sacked on 7 March 2021, despite TNS being narrowly ahead of Connah's Quay at the top of the 2020–21 league table.