Last night saw a huge twist in the title race, as title contenders Cheetham Hill lost their first match of the season (despite a last minute, strengthening team change), losing precious ground on defending champions Warrington.

Cheetham Hill were up against a strong Northern First Team, who had their World No.20 Egyptian, Moustafa ElSirty available for the first time. 22-year-old ElSirty is a former World Junior No.1 and has already won 15 PSA Titles (yes, fifteen!). He is currently living and studying in Birmingham and this was his first competitive match after serving a very long 6 month ban. Cheetham weren't without some impressive fire power of their own, as they had their own former World Junior No.1, local-lad Finn Withington at No.1.

The two superstars played out a MASSIVE match. Finn snook a tight first game, before ElSirty settled into his dominant stride and comfortably won the next two games. Fighter Finn composed himself to force a fifth game, and was ahead throughout. Leads of 8-4 and then 10-6 for Finn, having several match-balls at his disposal, which all went by far too quickly. At 11-10 Moustafa hit a perfect straight drive from the front for the win, to take the win in a surprisingly friendly match.

Earlier in the night, Matt Wagg and Josh Morris had claimed equally as impressive wins for The Northern. Matt Wagg beat Jasmine Hutton 3-2. In one of his best performances to date, Matt beat the ladies World No.20, with countless winning attacks from the middle of the court. When Matt is on form his volley-drops he can rattle off points very quickly. Manchester Uni student, Josh has been a great addition to The Northern's team this season, improving every week. Stephen Hearst is fit and resilient, but Josh also comes with an impressive arsenal of shots, and had just enough beat the Northern Irish Stephen 11-9 in the 4th. The last two matches on were the 3's and 4's to salvage as many points as possible for Cheetham. Jordan Hardwick lost 3-2 to the likable Michael Andrews, and Josh Taylor was too fit for Matt Roberts. The Northern took a memorable 4-1 victory, while Cheetham Hill got 10 valuable points, which is a lot for a defeat, as there were 3 x 3-2's and a 3-1 in their lost matches.

Warrington completed a comprehensive 5-0 win against The Northern's Second Team, with the large-framed Egyptian Ali Khawas, almost upsetting World No.60 Rui Soares at number one. Ali fearlessly pings the ball into front, almost over-embracing the traditional Egyptian attacking style of play. Rui couldn't settle into a rhythm and had to rely on mistakes from his opponent, while accepting many an amazing winner from Ali's racket. Rui just about scraped a 3-1, while the rest of his Warrington team-mates were quick 3-0 winners.

Grove Park vs Wrexham was always going to be a close match. These are two good teams and Grove's New Zealand recruit, Temwa Chileshe took out Owain Taylor in a great personal victory. Temwa, who had perfectly co-ordinated his whole outfit in a display of commendable attention to detail (red t-shirt, black shorts and socks, and black and red shoes), controlled the length of his shots slightly better than the Welshman, and in the fourth game cruised to a 3-1 win. The massive battle was at No.3, between Ky Hibberd and 18-year-old Josh Davies. Ky went ahead 2 games to nil, and rarely one to win three love, found himself inevitably in a fifth game. After a tight start to the final game, Ky remained standing long enough, and accepted a few timely tins from Josh as he established a lead at 8-4. This gap gave him enough impetus to win this vital match for his team. On the night Grove Park won 3-2, all vital points as the table is looking very close in the top half.

Alderley Edge's top order did the business, with Elijah Thomas particularly making an impact this season. 'The Edge' were up against City Of Manchester, taking the win to firmly cement them into a mid-table position, while COM remain one place off the bottom.

Liverpool vs Wigan was another big match this week. Along with Grove Park, these two are fighting hard for that third place position. Wigan had Pat Rooney available for the second week running, which makes them very strong. Lwamba Chileshe, brother of Grove Park's Temwa, put in a dazzling display, but unluckily went down fighting against the ever-skillful Rooney. The first two games were shared, a tie-break apiece. Rooney went 2-1 up only for the dogged Lwamba to fight back. Rooney had too much skill in the end and Lwamba had to work so incredibly hard to keep up with him, Patrick took the fifth 11-5, in what was a brutal match. And talking of brutal, Ben Hetherington only just overcame youngster Cory Harding. With scores almost mirroring the number 1 match, Ben came through 11-5 in the fifth game. Before the match I was excited to see how these two got on and what the result would be, and they didn't disappoint, utilising every corner of the court, playing some inspirational squash.

Mason Smales beat older Harding brother Lewis in a very competitive 3-1. Wigan Flick King, Ryan Atherton was 2 games to 1 down - he survived much heckling from the Liverpool faithful, and a big points deficit in the 4th game to come back to take the last two games against Adam Pritchard, for a third 3-2 win on the night for Wigan. Liverpool's Gabiel Cox got their only win in a high-quality match, coming back from a game down against Big Paul Mac-Attack.

So, what may possibly have been the closest night of squash ever in the North West League, with countless 3-2's over the 5 venues, the overall result is that Warrington extend their lead over Cheetham Hill at the top of the table - BUT with the epic top-of-the-table clash coming our way next week, it can all quickly change. Cheetham host Warrington in what is likely to be a 3-2 result either way, and if Cheetham can edge it then they are right back in the running. Stay tuned...