With a Winchester team needing points and a crowd standing over 130 in number needing a victory in style the return of Gregory Gaultier for the first time this season fresh from his weekend appearance on Sky Sports could not have been better timed. After Billy Kerr's calm and professional introductions what unfolded during the evening changed the shape of Group B and left our team better placed than we were at this point last season.

The ladies match saw Catherine Finlayson put in another performance which showed her growing ability to compete at the top levels of the women's game. Her opponent, Dominique Lloyd-Walter had been ranked as high as 14 in the world, although that experience gap made the difference Catherine's dancing and diving enthralled the crowd while her talent displayed itself when she was able to up the pace and make Dominique struggle. In the end she lost three closely fought games to nil but with a rising ranking and an ever improving game her name will be a feature on the WISPA list in 2012.

At 4^th string came Winchester's finest, Alex Phillips. With Head Coach Gary Hinton asking Matthew Yates to advise Alex between games (Mr. Yates showed his excellent management skills by immediately delegating the task to Mr. Gaultier while he had a beer instead) the scene was set for an emphatic win which Alex subsequently delivered in style taking all 3 games and showing his class to the delight of the home support.

The 3^rd string match saw the return of Robbie Downer for Winchester having been pressing for a spot in the team since the start of the season. Brimming with enthusiasm and desperate to impress he struggled at the hands of the experienced Steve Meads who took advantage of Rob's desire and cleverly used it against him. A 3-0 win for St. Georges saw them take a 2-1 lead in the tie and left Winchester's top two needing to win if the team were to be in with a chance of making the semi finals.

At number 2 Marwan El Shorbagy underlined yet again why he is a growing star within the sport. A bad tempered match against a chippy opponent a year older than him was eventually won 3-1 with a strong sense of a job completed. The result was ground out impressively considering he looked somewhat off form but Marwan was happy to be handing the baton to Greg with the tie now at 2 all.

This left the main event of the night which lived up to its billing as the crowd watched the former world number 1 demonstrate his mastery. Tom Richards, the likeable St. Georges number 1, is no slouch himself being ranked at 20 in the world but Gaultier put on a virtual exhibition of finely judged accurate squash. A 3-0 win was accomplished with the sort of style and sense of humour that has seen the Frenchman engage with crowds all over the world and the standing ovation he received at the end was fully justified.

So, at the halfway point in the season the team is nicely placed just 14 points off the semi final places and strengthened with two new additions coming in the January signing window!