As the end of the season approaches, a touch of vertigo has set in at the top of division three of the Braintree Table Tennis League where both the leading contenders suffered surprise defeats.

Black Notley E and Finchingfield B had only one reverse each behind them but found their records dented by Rayne F and Notley H respectively, in both cases by 6-4.

Finchingfield had an excuse in that their top player Lucien Nolan-Bradford was absent. Stewart Grant won twice, including a good win over Wayne Wilson, who had lost only eight out of 38.

But it was Wayne’s son 17-year-old son Harry who was the star of the evening, winning all three.

No excuses for Notley E, who had their No 1 Peter Davenport in action against Rayne F. But he lost for only the fourth time when Dave Whiting, who had lost to him in the first half of the season, edged home at 11-8 in the fifth game.

Whiting completed his hat-trick for the evening while Karl Bowden, borrowed from the G team, added two more and Alastair Brown one.

Earlier it had been Nolan-Bradford whose record received its first dent of the season. After an outstanding run of 11 matches without defeat, he was unable to wear down a resolute Ben Southgate, who triumphed 16-14 in the fifth game in the match against Notley G.

Surprisingly it was Finchingfield’s only blemish as Ray Bradford and Chad Rose led them to a 9-1 win.

That win enabled them to close the gap on Notley E to three points as their rivals were held to a draw by Netts F, Davenport undefeated this time.

With a match in hand, Finchingfield would appear to be in the driving seat, but they have a tough run-in with two matches against Rayne F and one against Netts F, the teams in fourth and third place respectively, while Notley E face the teams currently seventh, eighth and 11th.

Netts F – equal with Rayne F on points and matches won but ahead because they have drawn more matches – added a 7-3 win over Notley G while Rayne F had a 6-4 win over Sudbury Drifters, Whiting inflicting only the second defeat of the season on Graham Turner.

Before their victory over Finchingfield B, Notley H had gone down 6-4 to Notley F, despite three wins for Wayne Wilson.

Yeldham Whitlocks B improved their chances of staying out of the bottom two with a 7-3 victory over Rayne G, including a good win for Steve Willis over Karl Bowden, a player with 35 wins out of 42 behind him.