Final Round To Resolve Play-Off Places In National League

Tomorrow's tenth round of the National League will decide the two outstanding places in the semi-final play-offs, which will take place over two legs on Tuesday 12th and 19th April.

Title-holders Manchester/Pontefract, home and dry as winners of Group A with a massive 139 points, are already guaranteed qualifiers - while Group B leaders Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury are virtually certain to finish in the top two, despite the Gloucestershire club having a final fixture against bottom-placed Team Solent.

Wolverhampton host former champions Norwest Holst Nottingham to decide second place in Group A - with both clubs at full-strength and the top string match, on which qualification could be decided, featuring a re-run of last week's ISS Canary Wharf Classic final between Nottingham's John White - the winner - and Australia's world No6 Anthony Ricketts, who won the PSA Tour's biggest title of the year so far, the Tournament of Champions crown in New York last month.

The remaining clashes in the tie feature (Wolverhampton names first) Alex Gough v Gregory Gaultier; Scott Handley v Simon Parke; Mark Cairns v David Evans; and Shelley Kitchen v Natalie Grainger.

The tie promises to be one of the closest of the season. As Wolverhampton team manager Stephen Russell admitted: "Either side can win, but whereas Nottingham might have the edge - we have the crowd!"

The needle match in Group B sees UniSport Guildford entertain Team Chichester - with both teams having a mathematical chance of qualifying, but the likely scenario being the winners joining Strings Tewkesbury in the play-offs.

Both teams are fielding the same line-ups that contested the opening tie of the season - when the Sussex club won 4/1 - but Guildford manager Ian Robinson conceded: "It would be a huge optimist to predict a UniSport victory and a place in the semi finals, but then quirkier things have happened in sport!"

The decider features a number of standout clashes, including (Guildford names first) Stacey Ross v Mohd Azlan Iskandar; Stephen Meads v Peter Genever; Neil Frankland v Ben Garner; Jesse Engelbrecht v Tim Vail; and Alison Waters v Linda Elriani - the latter being a re-run of last month's British National Championships' women's final, which Elriani clinched for the first time.

FIXTURES: 10th round, Tuesday 22 March 2005

Group A:
Wolverhampton v Norwest Holst Nottingham
Edgbaston Priory v Benz-Bavarian Duffield
Group B:
UniSport Guildford v Team Chichester
Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury v Team Solent