Duffield and Bristol go top ...

New Champions In Mixed Fortunes
For Clubs In PSL
Roundup from Howard Harding

The two new British National Squash champions Nick Matthew and Jenny Duncalf maintained their winning form in tonight's eighth round of the Premier Squash League (PSL) - but, while Matthew's four-game victory helped lift former champions Benz-Bavarian Duffield back to the top of the Group A table, the win by fellow Yorkshire player Jenny Duncalf failed to prevent Chapel Allerton going down 2/3 to Esporta Oxford with two rounds to go in the season of the world's most prestigious squash league.

Derbyshire club Duffield notched up an impressive 5/0 home win over East Midlands rivals MB Nottingham. The 2007 champions' first whitewash of the season consigned Group A leaders Nottingham to third place - while Leeds-based Chapel Allerton hold onto second place despite their home loss to Oxford

Probuild Bristol return to the top of the Group B table for the first time since the beginning of the season after beating reigning champions PCL Whitehall Security Surrey H&RC 4/1 at home - while UniSport Guildford secured only their second win of the season by beating former table-toppers Exeter Diamonds, weakened by the last-minute withdrawal of squad No1 Stewart Boswell. Last season's runners-up PNH Properties Chichester suffered their fourth defeat in a row, going down 2/3 to TWP St George's Hill.

Just 48 hours after regaining his men's British National crown in Manchester, Sheffield's Nick Matthew recorded his sixth successive PSL win when he beat French international Renan Lavigne 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8 to clinch the 5/0 win for Duffield. Nottingham also fielded two new National champions, Simon Parke and Donna Vardy, the British Over-35 title winners. Parke, a long-time Nottingham stalwart was beaten 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 by the home side's 27-year-old Andrew Whipp, while Vardy - the 37-year-old former nationally-ranked player who stopped playing for ten years before picking up a racket again, then played in her first tournament for 15 years to win the Over-35 crown - went down 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 to England international Tania Bailey.

Jenny Duncalf repeated her Manchester semi-final win over Madeline Perry when she beat the Irish number one 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-9 to put Chapel Allerton ahead in their home match against Esporta Oxford. But the visitors' Scott Handley, Chris Ryder and Borja Golan were too strong for the Leeds club's middle order as Oxford built up an unassailable lead.

Thierry Lincou restored some pride for the home team, however, when the newly-crowned French champion defeated Australian international Cameron Pilley 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 in the final match of the day.

Probuild Bristol recorded their fourth PSL win in a row when they defeated PCL Whitehall Security Surrey H&RC - the Croydon club weakened by the unavailability of squad number one Peter Barker, who withdrew from the Nationals with bronchitis.

After Vicky Botwright gave a the visitors a temporary lead, the Bristol hosts took full advantage of the opportunity as Peter Marshall, team manager Hadrian Stiff, David Evans and Nationals' runner-up Adrian Grant all earned hard-fought victories to take the team back to the top of the Group B table.



It was also the last-minute loss of their top-string that led league newcomers Exeter Diamonds to only their second defeat of the season. Team regular James Snell, celebrating his 21st birthday, gave the hosts some hope with a straight games win over UniSport Guildford's Mick Biggs - but the Surrey University team already had a win under the belt via women's national championship runner-up Alison Waters - and club stalwarts Stephen Meads and Stacey Ross soon ensured the overall win with victories over Exeter's Tom Pashley and Rob Sutherland, respectively.

There was further Surrey success when TWP St George's Hill beat PNH Properties Chichester - but it was all-square when the hosts' top string Daryl Selby took on Chichester's now-retired Welsh international Alex Gough. Selby, a quarter-finalist in Manchester, had to work hard to keep Gough at bay - but, spurred on by a capacity St George's Hill crowd, battled to a 12-10, 11-9, 5-11, 11-6 victory to clinch a 3/2 outcome for the home club.