A thrilling finish at Northern saw the defending champions and New Brighton both held up just shy of the line.
Owais Shah’s 127 carried the Wirral side to within a whisker of their target of 241; at 233/6, needing eight runs from the last eight balls, they were hot favourites.
But Danny Wilson struck with consecutive balls, and Tom Sephton wrapped up his 60th first XI five-for by having Louis Botes held off the second ball of the last over.
Suddenly, the equation was eight from four, with one wicket remaining. All four results were possible, but visiting skipper Adam Neal played it safe, glancing a four off the penultimate ball but taking no chances with the last.
It was something of an anticlimax for Northern skipper James Cole, who would have had no complaints had his side been punished for some uncharacteristic slackness in the field.
“We weren’t really at the races,” he admitted. “We didn’t bowl very well and our fielding was as poor as it’s been in quite a while.
“Shah batted well, but you can’t afford to drop a batter of his calibre a couple of times.”
Earlier, Andrew Clarke and Jac Kennedy had contributed 62 and 60 respectively to Northern’s 240/4.
Kennedy, recruited over the winter from Northop Hall, has returned a century and three fifties so far in the league - Cole believes there’s more to come from the 19-year-old.
He said: “He’s come and opened the batting in the Premier League and has put his foot down.
“He could probably be a little bit disappointed that he’s not kicked on with some of his scores.
“But he’s fitted in fantastically, and he’s going to keep on getting better.”
Northern sit third in the Premier Division, one of three sides to have posted four wins, one defeat and one draw so far.
Wallasey are top, despite being frustrated by Formby on Saturday.
Skipper Callum Turner was the hero for the visitors, finishing unbeaten on 125, while number 11 Dewi Jones ate up 56 balls in a stand of 68 which occupied the whole of the last hour and saw their side from 121/9 to safety.
Sumit Ruikar’s inevitable starring role saw him take 7/79 to induce a collapse from 61/0, after Danny Beaver’s 136 underpinned the hosts’ 246/8.
Wigan are the surprise package in second place, after a fine two-wicket win over Ormskirk. U19 World Cup finalist Josh Boyden, in his first appearance of the season, and Indian off-spinner Akshay Wakhare helped restrict the hosts to 210; a 50 from skipper Charles Taylor set the visitors on their way to victory, despite frequent wickets to keep things interesting.
Ben Walkden’s 89 and an unbeaten 58 from Rizwan Haider helped Newton-le-Willows chase 228 for a five-wicket win at Southport & Birkdale. Earlier, Jack Stanley and Jack Carney each struck 50s for the hosts.
Birkenhead Park unveiled their new recruit - veteran left-arm spinner Ashraf Nawab, signed to fill the gap left by Safi Abdullah following his call-up to a Pakistan training camp. But he was overshadowed twice - first by seamer Alex Harris, whose 7/60 restricted Leigh to 215, despite Finn Hulbert’s 64, then by the hosts’ attack, who skittled Park for just 88.
Rainhill remain winless after Orrell Red Triangle’s 247/5 - with Richard Everett scoring 66* and Ammer Mirza 58 - proved too much to chase; the hosts did salvage a draw, with Sam Kershaw’s 51* leading them to safety at 153/6.
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Lytham kept up their 100% record in Division One thanks to a five-wicket win at Highfield.
Akash Vashisht holed the hosts’ middle order with 5/44 to restrict them to 155; an unbeaten stand of 94 between skipper Matt Taaffe and Toby Lester saw the visitors home.
Ainsdale openers Luke Smith (112) and Stephen Lucas (102) piled on 227 for the first wicket against Firwood Bootle; but the visitors had the last laugh, chasing 241 for a six-wicket win thanks to Danny Hart’s 74* in an unbroken stand of 95 with Jhangir Liaqat.
Liverpool’s Afghan left-arm spinner Zohaib Zamankhail took 7/39 to inflict Rainford’s first defeat of the season, skittling the hosts for 103 after John Dotters’ 7/37 restricted the visitors to 142.
Sefton Park chased 195 to beat Northop Hall by eight wickets, with 88 for Ben Percival and 55* for George Lee doing the bulk of the work.
Colwyn Bay spinner Paul Jenkins claimed 5/21 as Caldy slumped to 16/4, then to 101 all out; Will Evans’ 64* led the charge to a 10-wicket win.
Fleetwood Hesketh’s 189/9, with Scott Rimmer contributing 57, proved too much for Spring View.
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Maghull’s South African seamer Munowar Samsodien took 7/26 to keep his side top of Division Two, thanks to a six-wicket win over Hightown St Marys.
The first three wickets fell with the score on 1 - despite a mini-recovery to 55/6, Samsodien blew away the tail and visitors’ target was just 62.
Old Xaverians’ Josh Dilworth hit an unbeaten 102 to seal an eight-wicket win over Parkfield Liscard - he also took four wickets to restrict the Wirral side to 205.
Darren Collin (120*) and Chris Heath (105*) piled on 219 together for Wavertree - who had been struggling at 25/3 against Norley Hall. Stewart Guy’s 6/17 secured a 153-run win.
Liam Simms took 5/17 for Southport Trinity to secure a 64-run win over Alder; Prestatyn’s Sheil Sethi top-scored with 64 in their two-wicket win at St Helens Town.
