Tewkesbury & Manchester/Pontefract Motor On In National League

Group leaders Manchester/Pontefract and Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury maintained their winning ways at the beginning of the second half of the National League season with powerful sixth round victories away from home. The trans-Pennine cooperative extended their lead in Group A with a 4-1 win at Norwest Holst Nottingham, while the Gloucestershire newcomers - unbeaten in their maiden season in the League - defeated Sussex's Team Chichester 3-2.

Elsewhere in Group B, Surrey's UniSport Guildford also claimed an away win, beating Team Solent 4-1 - whilst the West Midlands derby at Edgbaston Priory went to the wire when visitors Wolverhampton secured a 3-2 success.

Title-holders Manchester/Pontefract arrived in Nottingham with a full-strength squad, though a busy international calendar meant that the hosts provided one of the club's weakest line-ups of the season. James Wright, Adam Fuller and Alex Norman - all making their debuts for Nottingham - went down in straight games to experienced pro's Marcus Berrett, Nick Taylor and Jenny Duncalf, respectively.

Nottingham's former British Open champion David Evans, from Wales, was also overshadowed on the day - by Yorkshire's fastest-rising star James Willstrop, the 21-year-old who has just shot to No5 in the world.

The top string clash was the showpiece encounter of the night - in which the visitors' world No2 Lee Beachill took on Nottingham's John White, the former world No1 who has plummeted to 12 in the latest world list. Beachill was the winner the last time they met - in the first round of the League in October - but this time the hot Scot White celebrated a 9-7 13-11 1-9 9-6 victory to give the home crowd a consolation point.

Manchester/Pontefract extend their lead at the top of the table to 16 points - but Wolverhampton kept up the pressure following their away win in Birmingham. But after victories in the opening two matches from Laura-Jane Lengthorn and Adam Stevenson, former champions Edgbaston Priory will rue their eventual loss of the tie after leading in all of the three remaining clashes.

Devon's Hadrian Stiff led 2-0 against the visitors' Mark Cairns - but the now retired former British National champion from Oxfordshire came back to save four match-balls and win 5-9 2-9 9-2 10-8 11-9 in an 86-minute marathon. Priory stalwart Del Harris, a former world No5 and now a fireman, also squandered a 2-0 lead before Wolverhampton's Scott Handley won 5-9 6-9 9-5 9-7 12-10.

In the deciding top string rubber between the home side's Adrian Grant and Welshman Alex Gough - ranked 14 and 25, respectively, in the world - Grant came back from 1-4 down in the fifth game to reach match-ball at 8-4. Gough battled on, however, to secure a magnificent 9-5 7-9 6-9 9-7 10-8 win in 73 minutes to give Wolverhampton the tie.

Sue Wright, owner of Strings Tewkesbury and a former four-times National champion, led by example on the Sussex coast when she beat Chichester's Caroline Chaloner 9-1 10-9 9-4 to put her team in the driving seat. The visitors' No4 Chris Clare carried on the momentum by beating Chichester newcomer Matt Holland in four games before team-mate Alister Walker clinched victory for Strings when he defeated home team captain Peter Genever 7-9 9-7 10-8 9-7.

In the other south coast clash in Group B, Team Solent began well when Pakistan No1 Carla Khan triumphed 9-1 9-0 9-1 over UniSport Guildford debutante Emma Matthews. It was a brave performance by the 16-year-old Surrey schoolgirl who is a beneficiary of Sport England's "Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme".

Guildford went on to take the remaining matches - Jesse Engelbrecht, Neil Frankland, Stephen Meads and Stacey Ross beating Chris Simpson, Shahid Khan, Greg Tippings and Lars Harms, respectively, to earn the Surrey squad its second victory of the season.