The home team are several points adrift at the bottom, the away team well clear at the top. An away banker if ever there was one. Not so!

Rayne E brought off what must be the result of the season so far in division two of the Braintree Table Tennis League by beating their own C team 7-3. And they did it with a reserve in their team.

New signing James Grimston, who won his three singles, was largely the one to blame.  Richard Whiteside added two wins and Conrad Gomes, from the club’s third division F team, scored an excellent win over Steve Buer. It was a long evening as no fewer than seven of the ten sets went the full five games.

Rayne C are still comfortably in the driving seat, but Black Notley D reduced their lead from 21 points to 16 with an 8-2 win over Netts D. Elliot Game, making a rare appearance, showed he has lost little of his touch by taking his three singles.

They replace Rayne D, who lost to Netts C, the team immediately below them, by 7-3. Charles Calisin, Peter Lewis and David Montgomery all won twice but none of them could get past Richard Whiteside, promoted on this occasion from the E team.

In division one, Netts A stretched their lead at the top to 24 points with wins of 8-2 over Notley B and 9-1 against Sudbury Wanderers.

James Hicks was unbeaten against Notley B, for whom Neil Freeman won twice, while Andy Dosher and Szczepan Ziobro both won their three singles against Wanderers.

Sudbury Nomads held on to second place with an 8-2 win over Liberal B. Richard Fifield was unbeaten.

Third-placed Liberal A had a win by the same score against Wanderers, with Alistair Hill unbeaten.

Rayne A’s Ian Whiteside turned the clock back a few decades with an excellent performance against Notley A, where his three victims included Luke Burridge, last season’s men’s singles runner-up. It was a convincing win too: 11-5, 11-7, 11-8. His wins helped his team to a 6-4 victory.