LAST Saturday’s postponement against Rochdale brought Liverpool St Helens’ 2011 to an end, leaving them in third place in North One West.

Taken as a whole, the year has been a significantly successful one with a tremendous late finish last February, March and April carrying them to just three points off a play-off slot followed by an excellent start this present season which saw them on top of the league in October.

The month of December, however, has not been a good one for the Moss Laners with defeats against the two sides now above them, Sandbach and Widnes.

Martin Jones’s men need to put this well behind them and return in January refreshed and ready for the rest of the campaign.

The one-month break, although beneficial in terms of rest and recovery, poses a big problem with match fitness as well as leaving the loyal fans, the lifeblood of any club, bereft of any rugby to watch at a time when they are probably most able to watch it.

Those that run the game will say that they cannot win and this is accepted. However, clubs could and should be more alert to the needs of their spectators over this period and not, as LSH have recently found out in one case, refuse to play cup ties or other such games over the festive period.