AN INCREDIBLE week for Northern’s squash sides saw all six of their teams storm to victory. The firsts finally ended a disappointing winless streak by beating Xaverians while the IIIs and IVs claimed narrow victories. And one of the week’s most impressive individual displays saw Peter Stanton overcome a former Northern champion, writes John Rourke. Last week’s disappointing defeat to Neston Is left Northern Is languishing in the relegation zone and on a nine match losing run. Although they remain in a relegation battle, the Is produced a morale-boosting performance against Xaverians which will hopefully be a turning a point in the season for the side. Alex Cunningham, John Sumner and Vaughn Williams were all triumphant in their encounters, while Peter Stanton overcame the challenge of former Northern champion David Cain as the team secured a thoroughly-deserved 4-1 victory. The IIs have been enjoying themselves of late and continued their winning ways by defeating Woolston Is. The victory proved a much harder feat than the eventual 4-1 scoreline suggests, however, as Northern were made to battle for their victory. Gary Powell had a relatively easy passage but Alex Berry had to battle hard to overcome a 2-0 deficit for his win. Alex Manion and Andy Chanter both triumphed in long five-setters and Tom Stevenson just failed to make it a clean sweep, coming from 2-1 down only to lose the decisive fifth set. Despite defeats for Chips Johnson and Steve Nemo, the team’s top two players, the lower order of Colin Wightman, Graham Lynch and Mark Halliwell, who enjoyed a long-awaited return to form, helped Northern IIIs to a 3-2 win over Xaverian IVs. A similar scoreline was the successful outcome of the IVs’ match with University Staff Is. Dave Cookson and Andy Duncan both won 3-1 while Andrew Allan’s 3-2 success proved crucial in clinching a memorable 3-2 win for the Moor Park outfit. The experience of veterans Steve Noakes and Mike Cunnningham provided the winning formula for the Vs. Despite good wins for both of them, the team still needed Colin Rogers’s epic five-set win to ensure the side’s 3-2 victory over Xaverian VIs. With all the other squash teams winning, Northern IVs did not let the club down. The team produced an emphatic display to whitewash opponents Wigan 5-0. Martin Gladwin, Steve Howorth, Dave Draper, Ian Smilie and team captain Alex Langley were the players in form as they all notched up wins. | 
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