I WAS at Deepdale on Saturday evening to see my hometown club go out to LIverpool in the third round of the FA Cup, and like everyone else I thought Steven Gerrard’s performance was unbelievable.

I had a few Prestion fans sat near me and I could hear a few sharp intakes of breath every time the Liverpool captain got the ball.

They were clearly thinking: “Oh no, what’s he going to do to us now?” He absolutely ran the game and must have had about eight shots at goal.

Head and shoulders above everybody else.

You certainly would never have known that he had any off-field problems and it was the perfect game for him to re-focus his energies on dong what he does best.

But that is when footballers are often at their best – when they don’t have to think about anything else other than just going out on the pitch and playing. When you have time to sit and think about things, that’s when you worry and maybe are not yourself. That’s why there had to be no question about Gerrard getting straight back into action.

It was vital that he was given the chance to get out on the field and think about playing and nothing else.

Especially when he does it so wonderfully well.