The Felsted RBL C juggernaut rolls on – and even Shirley Carroll, who is a cut above most in division three of the Braintree Table Tennis League, could do nothing about it.
Apart from their opening fixture, when they ran into a top-form Peter Taylor, Felsted have won every match 9-1 or 10-0 and Rayne I were the latest team to fall into the latter bracket.
In her first appearance of the season, Carroll took Andy Laws to four games, lost to Dean Wood 11-5 in the fifth and stretched Nick Butler to 11-9 in the fifth.
She came close to beating Butler after taking the first two games and reaching deuce in the third, but he just scraped home and, like Wood, still only has that defeat by Taylor against his name.
Rayne H climbed into second place, but not in a manner they would have wished. They lost 7-3 to Black Notley F and moved just two points ahead of Notley E, who did not play and now have a match in hand.
Declan Baines was unbeaten for Notley F.
Dave Whiting turned out for Rayne J for only the second time this season and his three sets helped them to an 8-2 win over Netts F.
Alan Billing was undefeated in Notley G’s 6-4 win over their own H team.
Leaders Notley B were in ruthless mood in division two, taking all ten from Rayne G, while chasing Liberal C, with only two players, were restricted to a 6-4 win over Rayne F’s team.
Gareth Davies took his three singles while Garry Fryatt just failed to follow suit after losing at 12-10 in the fifth against Dave Moles.
Ken Lewis made a rare appearance for Nomads, who beat Notley C 8-2, while Netts D scored only their second win of the season, 6-4 against Notley D, despite three defeats against Sean Clift.
In division one, any lingering hopes Netts A may have had of making a challenge for the title have surely disappeared after a surprise 6-4 defeat to their own C team.
With both Andy Holmes and John Cleasby in the side that was hardly a result they would have expected. But Nikki Davison beat both of them, as well as reserve Steve Buer, and James Mullane joined in with a win over Holmes that must rank as one of the best of his career.
Notley A are making a determined effort to get away from danger.
After only one win in their first ten matches, they made it two wins in two matches – and it is no coincidence that Lucy Wang played in both. She was joined by Victor Chan in winning three singles and the doubles in the 7-3 success over Liberal B.
Rayne D could also enjoy a modest celebration. Their 6-4 defeat by Rayne C was their closest so far. Unusually it was an undefeated Paul Lombardi, normally in the shadow of his teammates, who did the damage.