This week Alderley narrowly missed out on their first win of the season, and it really couldn't have been any closer as they lost out to Wigan by a matter of inches! Alderley's top two of Elijah Thomas and Toby Ponting both had impressive 3-0 wins against strong opposition (Mason Smales and Ben Hetherington). League stalwarts Paul Mac and Ryan Atherton claimed comfortable wins at 4 and 5 - so the crunch match was the number threes, Alderley's shootout king Azhan Khan against Wigan's club coach, the man who won't stop running, the ever-likable Julian Tomlinson. Azhan raced to a 2-0 lead with Julian barely competing as the home player fired in winners from all over the court. Azhan's never been know for his longevity in matches and Julian easily took the third game. Many would think this was the beginning of the end for the young man from Alderley. But no. He fought hard. They both fought hard to battle out an epic next two games. Both games went to tie-breaks, but Julian pipped them both, 12-10 in the fourth and 13-11 in the fifth! Azhan had match balls to claim the victory for The Edge but couldn't quite get over the line as Julian remained resolute in his mission to bring the match-winning bonus points back to Wigan.

Cheetham Hill earned a full 20 points against Wrexham, with two standout performances - one from Finn Withington, comprehensively beating the World No.105, Owain Taylor 3-0. The second was an incredibly intriguing match between Welsh youngster Rhys Evans and 43 year-old, 3 time World Champion, Nick 'The Wolf' Matthew. What a match, which constantly swayed both ways. There was huge excitement for the Welsh contingent when Rhys levelled at 2-all, when he won the fourth game 12-10. Could he pull off a memorable personal victory? Nope, Nick used his skill, accuracy and experience to keep the 19 year-old pinned behind him, winning the fifth game 11-5 - but great experience and a great performance from Rhys, and impressive from Nick to still be playing so well.

Elsewhere, Gove comfortably beat 'newbies' City Of Manchester; Warrington begun their title defence with a solid 19 points against a strong The Northern 1st Team. Simon Herbert (making his debut) showed some great speed and shot making qualities to win a close 3-0 against the big and impressive, Elliot Morris Devred; And finally, Bowdon got their first win with an impressive 4-1 win against The Northern Second Team.

Andy Whipp