BRENT Wilson is demanding the Green and Whites start the new year better than they finished the last.

The hard-fought victory over Moseley at Meadow Lane late last month was enough to cement Nottingham firmly in third place at the midway stage of the season.

And yet, it was a hollow 18-9 triumph against the relegation-threatened West Midlands club for a Nottingham side that had made a habit of brutalising visiting teams, averaging more than 50 points in their five home league wins between the last week of September and first week of December.

"The bar is set a lot higher than that," said Wilson.

"It was a pretty disappointing way to finish the year because, at home, a performance like that is not good enough. It was a scrappy game and we were not all there for it.

"The positive is that we finished the year in a strong position on that ladder."

Still, Nottingham are under no illusions heading into 2013 which kick-offs with a trip to face Rotherham on Saturday.

Having been upstaged by the Titans earlier in the season, relinquishing their first home defeat to the Yorkshiremen, Wilson insists focus was easy to maintain during the quiet festive period.

Players returned to full duties at their Lady Bay training base on Monday, backing-up on New Year's Day with the first- team session at 9am.

"We enjoyed the Christmas period but have had this tough game against Rotherham to concentrate on," said Wilson.

"If we want to stay in the play-off spots, we have to learn from that performance against Moseley and be more clinical in what we do. We left tries out there and that is not something we like to do.

"Right now, second place is still up for grabs and we have a big half of the season ahead of us."

Cornish Pirates were the big festive movers, downing Plymouth on Boxing Day before bagging a bonus point win against Bristol at The Mennaye on Tuesday to climb to fourth place.

Nottingham remain five points clear of the Pirates with a game in hand in third place.