After six weeks, the top of the division one table in the Braintree Table Tennis League is looking like it was expected to look – with Netts A and Rayne A challenging for the top spot.

Various pretenders had sneaked into the top two places in the league’s early weeks when the fixtures chart handed Rayne two blank weeks, but a 9-1 win last week over Liberal B – their third win in a row by that score – means they have moved into second place, eight points behind Netts with a match in hand.

Paul Lucas and Nigel Peters were both unbeaten while Gareth Davies captured Liberal B’s point with a win over Adi Kamma, playing up from the B team, at 11-9 in the fifth game.

Netts had no mercy on their own B team and took all 10 points.

Rayne’s B team drop to third after a draw with Sudbury Nomads, for whom Aron Jordan was undefeated. It was Rayne B’s third draw in six matches.

They are followed by Black Notley A, who retained their unbeaten record with a 6-4 win over Rayne C. Shing Cheung, on his debut, won his three singles.

The top two remain in lockstep in the second division where both Sudbury Strollers and Finchingfield A won 9-1.

Dave Fiddeman and Graham Turner had unblemished records for Strollers against Notley E as did Peter Clark and Casey Mansfield for Finchingfield against Netts C.

Notley D remain in third place but had their run of wins emphatically halted 8-2 by Rayne D. Richard Whiteside, playing up from the F team, won his three singles as did his father Ian.

The next two teams, Rayne F and Netts D, remain a point apart after drawing with each other. Joe Meleschko’s three singles and the doubles held Netts together.

Rayne E and Notley C also drew – three wins for Jamie Brooks – while Notley’s B team got the better of Yeldham A 7-3, Yeldham’s three all coming from the bat of Roy Hooper.

In division three, Finchingfield B were without a match, which enabled Notley F to leapfrog them at the top with a 10-0 win over their own I team.

In the battle of the G teams, Rayne’s Peter Taylor and Dave Whiting were unbeaten in a 9-1 win over their Notley counterparts.

Notley H slipped up to fourth place behind Rayne G with a 7-3 win over Yeldham B.  Notley’s trio of Peter Foster, Kevin Giilbank and Gary Kirkby all won twice as did Martin Cash for Yeldham.

Rayne H moved off the bottom with a 6-4 defeat of Netts E, the team just above them – 13-year-old Jayden Claridge, Rayne’s new signing, had an unbeaten debut.