THE last night of the squash super league saw Winchester narrowly lose out on second place to Exeter.

Three teams had been trying to secure the runners-up spot behind runaway leaders Halifax, with the Linden homes-sponsored Winchester going into the match with a two-point lead.

Playing away at Exeter, Tim Vail got Winchester off to a winning start against Michael Gregory.

In a previous encounter Vail had taken five sets to secure victory. This time he wrapped things up in straight sets.

Mark Cairns and Hadrian Stiff were next up to play, Winchester's Cairns going down 3-1.

The final and deciding match pitted Winchester's Alex Gough against Welsh teammate David Evans.

Gough won their previous meeting in five games, but the warm court and bouncy ball made for a real test of stamina.

Evans's longer reach and quality shot choice gave him the edge to win the first 10-8 in 28 minutes. He then raced to the second, before Gough replied 10-8, but narrowly lost out in the fourth.

It meant Exeter had leapfrogged Winchester, but it was still an excellent season, particularly considering the improvement on last year.