Rayne D have shaken up the division two title race in the Braintree Table Tennis League with a win over leaders Netts B.
Their 7-3 win narrowed the gap between the two teams to four points and was revenge for an 8-2 defeat earlier in the season.
Five of the six players who appeared in the first match were on duty again. Szczepan Ziobro for Jon Hill was the only change in the Netts line-up and given that Ziobro had lost only twice in his previous six matches, that was not a notable difference.
The major change was the form of Rayne’s Richard Whiteside. After a nil return in the first match, he won his three singles as well as the doubles with Dave Moles. Moles also turned the tables on Joe Meleschko, who had beaten him in October.
Black Notley D remain in touch, only four points behind Rayne D, after a 6-4 win over their own C team.
Sean Clift was unbeaten and brother Adam came within half an inch of joining him, missing out against Rev Matthews only at 13-11 in the fifth game.
Fourth-placed Sudbury Wanderers took all 10 against Rayne F while at the lower end of the table, Rayne E registered their second win of the season by a surprisingly comfortable 9-1 against Notley F, the team one place above them.
Matthew Brown’s three singles in his first appearance of the season greatly helped Rayne’s cause but they were also indebted to three from Lewis Armstrong-Kirton, his first maximum in division two.
After gradually getting closer in recent weeks, Rayne A have taken from Netts A over at the top of division one. They thumped their own C team 10-0 while Netts struggled to get past Notley B 6-4.
Paul Davison suffered only his second defeat of the season at the hands of Notley’s Kaung Htet Paing but a defeat for Paing at James Hicks’ hands ensured victory for the Earls Colne side.
Third-placed Liberal B went down 6-4 to Sudbury Nomads, two places below them, while Liberal’s A team lost by the same score to Rayne B, the latter’s first win of the season, and their C team were on the wrong end of a 9-1 scoreline against Notley A.
In division three, Great Yeldham scored wins of 10-0 over Rayne G and 9-1 over Notley H to move within five points of leaders Netts D.
The victory over Rayne G was particularly notable as their opponents had been joint top after five matches and fielded the by no means negligible team of Alastair Brown, Chris High and Dave Whiting.
The same team was on duty at Finchingfield where Stewart Grant’s three singles helped the home side to a draw.
Netts D came past Sudbury Strollers’ strongest team of the season, Peter Abbott, Geoff Barrett and George Berry, with a 7-3 victory.
Third-placed Notley G kept up the pace with a 10-0 win over Rayne H while their I team had a 7-3 win over Netts E.
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