Liberal A dropped their first points, Netts A suffered their first defeat and Black Notley A scored their first win in week four of the Braintree Table Tennis League.
Liberal had won their first three matches 10-0 but were held up by a tenacious display from Netts C that restricted them to an 8-2 win. It could have been even closer. Brandon Crouchman was two games to one down to Nikki Davison and 2-0 down to James Mullane before creeping home at 11-8 and 11-7 in the fifth game respectively.
Davison came even closer to beating Simon Webber, winning the first two games before losing 12-10 in the decider. Mullane and Davison did have something to show for their efforts. Mullane beat Webber and Davison got the better of Scott Dowsett.
It was Liberal B who took away Netts A’s record, which means they have now beaten the teams who finished second and third last season. Robin Armstrong hit top form to win his three singles in the 7-3 victory.
Netts B are the only team to have beaten Liberal B this season and they continued their good run with a 9-1 win over Rayne C to put them in third place. Colin Bennett and Graham Playle were unbeaten but Paul Wellington scored a good win over Maria Boulton to prevent the whitewash.
Rayne A retained second place with a 10-0 win over their own B team.
Notley A’s first win came at the expense of their own B team. Gordon Fairchild took his three singles for the B team but could not prevent a 6-4 defeat.
Liberal C recovered from their slight hiccup the previous week to continue their push for promotion from division two with an 8-2 win over Rayne D. Gareth Davies was unbeaten.
Second-placed Felsted RBL A lost ground after suffering their first defeat of the season. They succumbed 7-3 to Notley D, who replace them in second place.
Jarek Pietraszuk won his three singles for Felsted but Sean Clift, Adam Clift and Bruce Wickham took the rest.
Netts D are just one point behind despite the fact that their 9-1 win over Felsted B was their first success on the table (after two defeats and a walkover). Roy Hooper and Patrick Gilbert were unbeaten.
Unbeaten evenings for Tim Huxtable and Dan Anderson helped Notley C to an 8-2 win over their own E team while an undefeated Dave Marsh led Rayne E to a 6-4 win over Nomads.
Notley F have jumped to the top of division three after a 10-0 win over Rayne I. Steve Baines, Declan Baines and Mel Cooch did all that was asked of them.
Notley G are second after a 7-3 win over Notley H in which Matt Brooks and Jim Davy were unbeaten, but title favourites Rayne F were held to a draw by Netts E, largely by the presence of Derek Kennard, who won his three singles.
Notley I scored their third win out of three, 8-2 over Netts F, in which Mike Smith won his three singles.
Shirley Carroll followed suit for Rayne H but Rayne G won five of the rest to force a draw.