By Matt Hardy

New signing James Nestor scored twice against his former club, as Manchester ran out 15-3 victors over Leeds & Wakefield at the National Cycling Centre on Sunday.

Internationals Ross Bond and Stuart Cook were in fine form, and both found the net, along with Sam Richardson, Ilya Ovenchkin, Paul Thompson and another debutant Vicente Garcia.

The victory closed the gap between the top two in the North to just one point, with two games between them and Sheffield to come in their final three regular season fixtures.

Liverpool powered their way clear of the bottom two elsewhere in the North, as they defeated Hull 15-3 on Merseyside.

In the Midlands, Team Bath claimed top spot with a 9-4 triumph over Birmingham Tigers, whilst an ever improving Hereford side beat Gloucester 5-2 to move up to sixth with four games to play.

Meanwhile champions Helvecia narrowly defeated second placed London United 2-1 in the South to strengthen their grip with just a handful of games remaining.

Ronaldo Negrao’s side now hold a four point advantage over United with just three league fixtures remaining. Crucially, they also hold a game in hand and with another solid performance, it is difficult to see them loosening their grip at this late stage.