Difficult situations, losing first matches (6)
I believe the answer is:
lights
'matches' is the definition.
'difficult situations losing first' is the wordplay.
'difficult situations' becomes 'plights'.
'losing first' means to remove the first letter.
'plights' with its first letter removed is 'LIGHTS'.
(Other definitions for lights that I've seen before include "Chances" , "Blackpool is known for such" , "organs" , "Offal" , "Comes down" .)