After seven successive wins, Rayne C have tasted defeat for the first time in the Braintree Table Tennis League’s second division.

It was the unpredictable Sudbury Strollers who stopped them in their tracks. Strollers have had mixed fortunes so far with three wins and two defeats in their first five matches and the team that turned out against Rayne C had lost the previous week against Netts C.

But David Fiddeman (three wins), John Colvin (two) and Dan Sackey (one) got it right this time with a 6-4 win, including a rare defeat for Matthew Brown by Fiddeman.

Strollers currently sit incongruously in second bottom place. But they currently have two matches in hand on the top three teams. If they can turn out this team regularly, a rapid climb up the table is likely.

Black Notley C currently occupy second place, which they enhanced 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 climbed to fourth with a win by the same score against Rayne E. Mel Cooch was unbeaten.

And there was a win at last for bottom team Finchingfield A. Like Strollers, they looked out of place on the bottom rung and jumped two places with a 7-3 win over third-placed Netts D. It’s only the second time this season that they have been able to turn out 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 had to concede two sets). Barrett was unbeaten this time.

In division three, leaders Finchingfield B were not playing, which allowed Notley E to move up to within three points after a 9-1 win over Netts E. Peter Davenport and Dave Parker were unbeaten but Tony McShane can be pleased with a good win over Ken Wilding.

Rayne F, in third place, lost 6-4 to seventh-placed Notley G. Ben Southgate won three, Ricky Moriconi two and the two of them won the doubles.

Rayne G moved up to fourth 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.

There were straightforward 5-1 wins 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 the one for Rayne C. For Nomads, Ken Lewis, Karl Baldwin and new signing Kamil Lentas took one each, while Conrad Gomes scored the one for Rayne E.

There were no problems in the restricted cup for Sudbury Strollers, who beat Notley G 9-0. David Fiddeman, John Colvin and Ian Whipps were only stretched to four games once in the singles sets, when Barbara Turner took a game off Whipps.

The only vaguely close match was Netts D’s 6-3 win over Notley E, where Peter Davenport for Notley and JJ Calisin for Netts were unbeaten.

Of more note was the return after many years away of former league secretary Rupesh Harding in the Netts ranks. He won a singles and both doubles, missing out against Davenport only at 11-8 in the fifth game.