ECCLESHILL head coach Sean Regan loves football and he loves Christmas but he doesn’t believe the two go together well.

Regan’s Eagles suffered three postponements before last Saturday’s home game against Nostell MW and then they had a full week’s wait ahead of today’s reverse fixture.

He said: “I’ve had a great Christmas but the football’s been a joke. From past experience it’s never been a good mix.

“You just can’t get going, it’s been awful. When everyone’s together, the players, the coaches and the supporters, it just keeps going because you’re in that routine. As soon as that stops it all starts to unravel.

“We’ve had a few postponements but now it’s been a family time over the Christmas period, it’s not just the weather.

"I’m looking forward to today's game and I’ll enjoy Monday and wish everyone all the best for new year but I’ll be glad when it’s all over.”

The Eagles lost the leadership of the Toolstation Northern Counties East League Division One after a 2-0 defeat at Glasshoughton Welfare on December 2. That was the last time they played before being held to a 3-3 home draw by Nostell on December 23.

That result dropped them down to third, outside the automatic promotion places for the first time this month.

Regan said: “We were all disappointed about the Glasshoughton result but I quickly put it to one side. I told the players that it happens, the run we’d been on was amazing and long but it’s difficult to keep that level of consistency going.

“You lose a game but you don’t dwell on it, you just get back on with it. But we didn’t get the chance to play because of the postponements.

"That left us short of match fitness when we found ourselves up against a well-organised Nostell side and they were ready for it more than we were. We were 3-1 down at half-time.

“We were awesome in the second half but we’d left ourselves too much to do but the point we got stopped us from dropping down to fourth. It’s a very tight top four and any of the teams in it could win the division.

“We play some of them over the next couple of weeks so we’ve got a tough January. That’s why we could have done with more games.

"We need to be at our best because by the end of next month we’ll know where we are in the league.”