Manchester/Pontefract Stretch National League Lead

After losing at the beginning of the season for the first time in more than a year, Manchester/Pontefract finished their first half of the season with a resounding 5-0 home win over Derbyshire's Benz-Bavarian Duffield in the fourth round of the National Squash League to stretch their lead to 21 points ahead of Norwest Holst Nottingham - who, despite also winning 5-0 tonight and having a tie in hand, will be unable to overhaul the trans-Pennine co-operative until the second half of the season.

In the absence of world No1 Lee Beachill, who sustained a recurrence of his adductor strain in last week's Canadian Classic in Toronto, Manchester/Pontefract were led for the second time this season by fellow Yorkshireman James Willstrop. Despite being ranked 12 in the world, seven places higher than the Duffield No1 Renan Lavigne, the Frenchman twice led in the match before the wily Willstrop turned on his flair to register a 7-9 10-8 7-9 9-5 9-7 victory in 48 minutes.

Earlier in the tie Manchester stalwart Nick Taylor beat the visitors' third string Sam Miller 9-7 9-5 7-9 9-6 to begin the home team's victory surge. Miller was only recruited into the Derbyshire club's squad during the day, following team manager Brian Hargrave's frantic bid to field a complete team after a series of withdrawals due to injury and unavailability. Miller, 24, from Warwickshire, had raced back from a tournament in New York to make his Duffield debut.

Warwickshire's Vicky Hynes came near to earning a valuable match point for Duffield when she forged a 2/0 lead against the home team's Rebecca Botwright. Sadly for the 23-year-old from Birmingham, history repeated itself when Manchester-based Botwright came back to win in five games - exactly as the 22-year-old did against Hynes in the final of the European Individual Championship in Slovakia in September.

The other fourth round tie in Group A provided the most comprehensive rout of the season when a near full-strength Norwest Holst Nottingham, champions in 1999, crushed the significantly weakened Edgbaston Priory, champions in both 2001 and 2003. "It was our worst ever defeat," conceded the Birmingham club's team manager Matt Suckling - whose problems of not having his regular No1 David Palmer, due to injury, were compounded when he discovered that his anticipated replacement Adrian Grant, the world No13, had earlier in the day reached the semi-finals of a PSA Tour event in Pakistan!

"Despite losing, our team played its heart out before a packed crowd of loyal fans here at the Priory - I was very proud of the courage shown," added Suckling. There were brave performances from late recruits Steve Coppinger, the Warwickshire No1 and a former South African U19 No1, and Birmingham University student Philip Nightingale - but both lost in straight games to Nottingham's experienced National League player Simon Parke and Nick Douglas, respectively.

Scotland's injury-prone number one Pamela Nimmo produced an outstanding performance for Nottingham to beat the home team's French No1 Isabelle Stoehr, ranked five places higher in the world, 9-7 9-6 8-10 9-2, while Nottingham star John White, the world No5, ensured maximum points for the visitors at the end of the night with 9-3 9-4 10-8 victory over Priory's stand-in top string Hadrian Stiff.

The win propels Nottingham from bottom position to second place in the Group A table, 10 points ahead of the resting Wolverhampton. But the heavy defeat sees Edgbaston plummet to fifth place in the table, three points adrift of Duffield.

Group A:
Manchester/Pontefract 5-0 Benz-Bavarian Duffield
James Willstrop beat Renan Lavigne 7-9, 10-8, 7-9, 9-5, 9-7 (48m)
Marcus Berrett beat Paul Hargrave 13-11, 9-7, 9-2 (30m)
Nick Taylor beat Sam Miller 9-7, 9-5, 7-9, 9-6 (36m)
Andrew Whipp beat Matt Lowery 9-3, 9-5, 9-6 (36m)
Rebecca Botwright beat Vicky Hynes 7-9, 6-9, 9-3, 9-0, 9-4 (52m)
Edgbaston Priory 0-5 Norwest Holst Nottingham
Hadrian Stiff lost to John White 3-9, 4-9, 8-10
Adam Stevenson lost to Gregory Gaultier 2-9, 4-9, 3-9
Steve Coppinger lost to Simon Parke 6-9, 5-9, 4-9
Philip Nightingale lost to Nick Douglas 8-10, 6-9, 4-9
Isabelle Stoehr lost to Pamela Nimmo 7-9, 6-9, 10-8, 2-9