CHRISTMAS and New Year is always a busy period with sacrifices made by players but the points they were rewarded with made it all worthwhile.

There was, however, a stark contrast in the performances over our four holiday games.

We were outstanding at Forest Green and not too bad against Exeter at home in the televised game.

The two games against Exeter away and Stevenage saw us do not quite as well with the ball although we defended well. But the outcome was six points out of six.

On Saturday, Stevenage came with a game plan to frustrate us through the midfield. They dominated from the start and we just couldn't get hold of the ball as the congestion in the middle of the park led to problems. The pitch wasn't conducive to our style of play, either.

But we adjusted our formation and the longer the game went on the more tired their front player became. We started to get more of the ball and in the last 15 minutes, for the first time, we began to put them under pressure.

In the end, we got the result with Paul Parry getting in a good strike. Matt Baker had also done ever so well when we needed him to.

Exeter were very strong at set pieces but we defended them well at St James Park, confining them to a couple of long-range efforts.

But they were two significant wins for us and we ground out results when we had to.

We must give Stevenage credit as they were the first side to win at Chester and so the first thing to do was to make sure they didn't do the same to us.

Looking back now, draws would have been good results against Leigh RMI and Tamworth. It's frustrating to see their league positions and know that we lost both games.

When your game's not flowing, as on Saturday, the thing to do is to make sure you don't lose and the way to do that is to keep a clean sheet. We failed to do that against Leigh and Tamworth.

The joy on Saturday was that effectively four points changed hands in the closing stages for it looked, at one stage, as if Chester might go eight in front. Now the gap is just four and we've got a game in hand.

Ten points out of 12 - with three potentially difficult games involved - is a tribute to the spirit in the camp with players missing through injury and suspension.