After seven consecutive victories, Rayne C has tasted defeat for the first time in the second division of the Braintree Table Tennis League.
It was the unpredictable Sudbury Strollers that stopped them. Strollers have had mixed fortunes so far with three wins and two losses in their first five matches and the team that faced Rayne C had lost to Netts C the week before.
But David Fiddeman (three wins), John Colvin (two) and Dan Sackey (one) were right this time with a 6-4 win, including a rare defeat for Matthew Brown at the hands of Fiddeman.
Strollers are currently incongruously in second place. But they currently have two games in hand against the top three teams. If they can field this team regularly, a quick climb up the rankings is likely.
Black Notley C currently occupy second place, which they improved with a 7-3 win over Yeldham Whitlocks A. Roy Hooper took his three singles for Yeldham, but Jamie Brooks, Matt Brooks and Lawrence Grantham won the rest.
Notley’s D team moved into fourth place with a win by the same score against Rayne E. Mel Cooch was undefeated.
And there was finally a win for bottom team Finchingfield A. Like Strollers, they looked out of place on the bottom step, jumping two places with a 7-3 win over third-placed Netts D. It is only the second time this season that they have been able to put together last year’s promotion-winning line-up of John Barrett, Peter Clark and Dave Punt (the first time they were together, an injury to Clark meant he conceded two sets). Barrett was undefeated this time.
In division threeLeader Finchingfield B did not play, allowing Notley E to move within three points after a 9-1 win over Netts E. Peter Davenport and Dave Parker were unbeaten but Tony McShane can be satisfied with a good victory over Ken Wilding.
Rayne F, in third place, lost 6-4 to seventh seed Notley G. Ben Southgate won three, Ricky Moriconi two and the two won the doubles.
Rayne G moved into fourth place with a 6-4 win over Sudbury Drifters – Karl Bowden unbeaten – while James Dickson’s three singles helped Yeldham B to a draw with Notley F.
They easily won 5-1 in the team knockout cup for Netts A and Sudbury Nomads over Rayne’s C and E teams respectively.
Szczepan Ziobro won twice for Netts, while Paul Wellington took it ahead of Rayne C. For Nomads, Ken Lewis, Karl Baldwin and new signing Kamil Lentas grabbed one each, while Conrad Gomes scored for Rayne E.
There were no problems in the limited cup for Sudbury Strollers, who defeated Notley G 9-0. David Fiddeman, John Colvin and Ian Whipps were stretched to four games only once in the singles sets, when Barbara Turner took a game from Whipps.
The only vaguely exciting match was Netts D’s 6-3 win over Notley E, in which Peter Davenport for Notley and JJ Calisin for Netts were undefeated.
More important was the return after many years of absence of former league secretary Rupesh Harding to the Netts ranks. He won a singles match and both doubles matches, missing only against Davenport 11-8 in the fifth match.
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