Liverpool St Helens beat Fleetwood and the conditions

The rain never stopped, occasionally coming down in horizontal waves; the wind never stopped, at times bringing fiercely cold air from the Irish Sea (not far up the road): but crucially, neither did LSH.

They never stopped for the full 80 minutes and produced a tremendous team performance to beat both the elements and their opposition, who it must be said, also never stopped.

The opening encounters saw both sides sizing each other up as well reconciling themselves to a slog of an afternoon as within the first twenty minutes the game seemed to be stuck, quite literally, somewhere around the half way line.

LSH then gradually upped the tempo and in the 28th minute, after a series of attacking mauls the ball was swung right for John Romano to score in the right hand corner.

Five minutes later the young winger crossed for a second, with an early contender for the try of the season.

A nifty kick through from Matty Wood, playing at stand-off, took the ball just over the half way line and just as it looked as though it was safely covered by the Fleetwood defence, Romano raced in and in a diving movement, scooped the ball up before outpacing everyone to score under the posts. Wood converted.

Not to be outdone, Fleetwood hit back with a well worked converted try in the 38th minute to leave the game in the balance at half-time 7-12.

With conditions worsening and in fading light the second half saw LSH in resilient mood. Wood added a penalty soon after the break, and the Moss Laners happy bus ride home was guaranteed when Sam Walker raced down the right wing to score in the 62nd minute, converted by Wood.

Saturday 11 December LSH are away to League leaders Didsbury Toc H 2.15pm.

Pictures: Colin Douglas.