Back 31 May 17 _{- by Chris Peddy}

Nottingham storm to PSL victory with 5-0 final win against Leicester

Nottingham faced Leicester in the PSL Final in Manchester on Tuesday night

Adam Murrills put Nottingham 1-0 up a victory against Darren Lewis

Before Millie Tomlinson doubled their lead with a surprise 3-0 win against Emily Whitlock

Richie Fallows then secured the victory for Nottingham with a comfortable win against Mark Fuller

Richie Fallows celebrated the win with his teammate Declan James

Daryl Selby and Nick Matthew played out an enthralling match that entertained thousands at their homes via a live stream

Nick Matthew eventually emerged victorious 3-2 after almost an hour of play

The two of them were then interviewed after the match

George Parker and Declan James then played out a dead rubber, with James winning 2-0 in best of three games to give his side a deserved 5-0 victory

Nottingham were then awarded their trophy at the end of the night

Nottingham beat Leicester 5-0 to win their first Premier Squash League title in the showcase final in Manchester.

Nick Matthew fought back from 2-1, 6/1 down to beat his England teammate Daryl Selby 3-2 in the headline match the National Squash Centre, streamed live to thousands.

World No.27 Millie Tomlinson pulled off a shock 3-0 win against two-time British Junior Open champion Emily Whitlock on the all-glass show court to give Nottingham a 1-0 lead, with Cheshire’s Adam Murrills dispatching Darren Lewis 3-0 to make the score 2-0.

England Academy player Richie Fallows then secured the win for Nottingham after downing Leicester’s Mark Fuller 3-0. World No.35 Declan James defeated George Parker 2-0 in a best-of-three match to end the night with the result already decided.

Did you miss the action last night? Watch all three matches starring Nick Matthew, Daryl Selby and Emily Whitlock in the repeat below:

Both Matthew and Selby produced some unbelievable squash to entertain the large audience of Nottingham, Leicester and neutral fans in the first final to be showcased as a standalone event. High intensity, long rallies were on show throughout before Matthew eventually claimed the win after a gruelling, 58-minute five-setter, 4/11, 11/4, 8/11, 11/9, 11/4.

After the match, Matthew admitted he was made aware of his team’s win during the break between the third and fourth game, when he was 2-1 down. “I tried to take him on for a few points exhibition-style and I was getting hammered, so I thought ‘Don’t do that! Daryl will beat you all day.’,” he said. “He was hitting it behind his back and I can’t do any of that so I just tried to play good squash.”

Matthew was encouraged by the event in Manchester and was pleased to see many Nottingham fans in attendance. The 36-year-old three-time world champion said: “I walked in and I saw a vibrant atmosphere with the crowd and a good MC, it’s nice that we’ve made a big showcase tonight, got it live streamed and made a big thing out of it.”

Matthew will now travel to Dubai for the World Series Finals next week along with James Willstrop, Laura Massaro, Sarah-Jane Perry and Alison Waters.

The match represented the end of the season for Selby, 33, who was disappointed he let his lead slip. He said: “I played well and I wanted the victory but credit to him, he battled like he always does and I just didn’t have enough in the tank for the last game.

“There was a good crowd and it’s fantastic that England Squash have made a big deal of this and put a lot of time and effort into it, it has made it feel like a real final. Although the result didn’t go our way, I have really enjoyed playing in this sort of atmosphere because getting older you savour every opportunity you get to play in front of a good crowd.”

The night started with all 10 players welcomed on to court to stand in support of those who lost their lives in the Manchester Arena bombing last week. Then, it was straight into the action with the women’s string first on to the glass court. Millie Tomlinson, who recently broke into the world’s top 30 for the first time, stormed into an early lead with an 11/7 win in the opening game. A dominating performance from Tomlinson never allowed World No.13 Emily Whitlock to settle into the match and it was all over after 33 minutes, with an 11/7, 11/2, 11/9 win for Nottingham.

It was a strong end to a mixed season for Tomlinson, 25, who said her target for next season was to continue to climb up the rankings table. She said: “There’s been some ups and downs so I’m glad my ranking has gone up. I want to try and get into the top 20 next year, that’s the goal but it will be tough.

“It was really good tonight, there was an amazing atmosphere and they were all getting really rowdy so it worked really well.

With Cheshire local Adam Murrills having given Nottingham a 2-0 lead with an 11/7, 11/5, 11/5 win against Darren Lewis, Matthew v Selby and Richie Fallows v Mark Fuller were next on to court. Just one win was needed for Nottingham to pick up the trophy.

As the main event on the show court developed into a five-set classic, Fallows, 21, made lighter work of Fuller and sealed the victory for his side with an 11/7, 13/11, 11/8 scoreline in 41 minutes. The World No.58 said: “I’m very happy. It’s a long season and it’s good that a big crowd have come down, they’ve been really good all season – coming to all of the away matches. So it’s nice for us to win it for them.”

England Academy players Declan James and George Parker faced off to end the proceedings, with both players agreeing to play best of three games with the result already safe. World No.35 James finished the night with an 11/7, 11/9 victory in 26 minutes.