Manchester/Pontefract Beat Priory, But Birmingham Club Stay Ahead In PSL

In a dramatic fifth round Premier League clash at the National Squash Centre in Manchester between 2004 champions Manchester/Pontefract and 2003 winners Churchill Edgbaston Priory, the home side pulled off a 4-1 victory - but failed to dislodge the hitherto unbeaten Birmingham club from top of the North Group points table. There was also a shock result in the South Group where league newcomers Surrey Health & Racquets Croydon went down 2-3 at home to Team Chichester, leaving Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury to reclaim pole position in the group.

The secret to Edgbaston Priory's surprise 'success' in their seemingly heavy defeat in Manchester was in picking up maximum possible points in the four matches they lost - all by 3/2 margins! In the first women's match covered by the www.psalive.tv streaming - which provided live worldwide coverage of the PSL for the first time - the hosts' Jenny Duncalf twice came from behind to beat England team-mate Vicky Botwright 2-9 9-4 7-9 9-4 10-8 in 82 minutes to reverse the result of her last meeting with the Manchester star on the same court two months ago.

Further Manchester wins by Nick Taylor and James Willstrop ensured victory in the tie for the hosts, but squad number one Lee Beachill extended the margin to 4-1 with a 6-9 9-7 6-9 9-1 9-2 triumph in 57 minutes over the Edgbaston top string David Palmer, the world No7 from Australia.

Elsewhere in the North Group, title-holders Wolverhampton suffered their third defeat of the season - going down 1-4 at home to 1998 champions Benz-Bavarian Duffield. Australia's British Open champion Anthony Ricketts, the world No3, was the hosts' sole winner - beating England's world No11 Nick Matthew 9-3 9-3 9-1 - but Duffield stalwarts Renan Lavigne, Laurence Delasaux, Paul Hargrave and Tania Bailey all triumphed to keep the Derbyshire club's league title hopes alive, just three points behind second-placed Manchester/Pontefract.

Led by in-form world stars Peter Nicol and Nicol David, Surrey Health & Racquets Croydon were widely fancied to topple Team Chichester and finish the first half of season at the top of the South Group. But England No1 Linda Elriani, playing in her first match since a hamstring injury layoff, gave the Chichester visitors the perfect start to the evening when she took on Malaysia's world No3 Nicol David, fresh from the best run of her career which included winning the British Open title and Carol Weymuller Open trophy in New York last month. Elriani, the world No6 from Eastbourne, crushed David 9-6 9-1 9-6 in 37 minutes.

Chichester's Australian newcomer Aaron Frankcomb and squad stalwart Tim Vail also claimed significant wins to clinch the tie for the Sussex club - but top string Peter Nicol recovered some Croydon pride when he beat the visitors' Ben Garner, the younger brother of the Croydon third string Tim Garner, 4-9 9-6 9-7 9-3 in 26 minutes.

It was Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury's middle order that provided the might to overcome University Sport Birmingham 3-2 in the other tie in the South Group. Fast-improving Gloucestershire stars Alister Walker and Alex Stait beat the home side's Joel Hinds and Steve Coppinger, respectively, after Essex's rising star Daryl Selby defeated the Birmingham University squad No4 Jaymie Haycocks 9-6 -6 3-9 9-4.

Winners of the South Group last year in their maiden season in the PSL, Strings now approach next year's second half of this season at the as group points table, seven points ahead of Croydon.