THE Northern Knights have set up a Sunday showdown with Leinster Lightning in the RSA inter-provincial Twenty20 Trophy after inflicting the first defeat of the season on the Dublin side at Comber.

A superb 77 from Nigel Jones helped the Knights to a five wickets victory in the first match of the day and when the hosts followed up with a six wickets win over the North West Warriors, they joined the Lightning side at the top of the table, each with one match to play - against the Warriors at Bready.

Leinster have the superior run rate and victory over the Warriors at Bready will all but secure the T20 title, but the Knights will hope for a slip-up or a massive victory in the second match on Sunday, hoping to sneak in and lift the trophy.

The Knights certainly showed that Lightning can crack under pressure with Lee Nelson put down on 20 and several misfields costing valuable runs as the NCU side got home with just one ball to spare. Their bowling also stood up well with Peter Eakin particularly impressive and he also took the wickets of the Poynter brothers who were the top two scorers.

Skipper Andrew White, who opened both the batting and bowling in both matches, also won two tosses and, with an almost identical performance, ended up chasing just one run more against the Warriors after Johnny Thompson scored his second half century in two days, this time finishing 51 not out from 45 balls with three fours and two sixes.

International James Shannon showed a welcome return to form to spearhead the Knights' victory charge, his 62 from just 42 balls including three fours and six sixes. He was disgusted with himself for getting out with five overs to go and just 33 runs to get but Nelson saw the job through and Peter Connell, despite bowling three overs for just 10 runs, was unable to bowl his last over.

Nelson has been struggling for runs with Waringstown this season but he also scored 30 in the first game against the strong Lightning attack which everyone knew was under pressure when Kevin O'Brien, always a reluctant bowler when captain, came on for his full four-over quota. Unlike his golden arm last Tuesday for Ireland, he failed to pick up a wicket and now all roads leads North West on Sunday.

The Warriors have yet to win a match in any of the three formats in the expanded inter-provincial series and until their top order batting comes off they will continue to struggle.

Yesterday they lost their first four wickets for 35 runs which, while a marked improvement on their previous game in the T20 competition when Lightning reduced them to eight for four, it is no platform from which to win a game.

The form of Johnny Thompson over the last two days has made their totals respectable but it's time for the main batsmen to step up to the mark.