Life at the wrong end of a division is never much fun, but things have just brightened up for two teams in the Braintree Table Tennis League.

Black Notley H recorded their first win in division three and while Netts E’s win was their second, it was an out-of-the-blue success against the division’s second-placed team.

Notley H’s win came against fourth-placed Finchingfield B by 8-2, although to be fair the opposition were without most of their big guns.

Nigel Parmenter was their mainstay as he has been for most of the season. His three wins took his total to 17 out of 21. Jill Canning chimed in with two wins as did Mike Smith, to end his unusual barren spell.

Netts E’s only victory so far had come at Notley H’s expense, which made their success against a far from negligible Sudbury Strollers side – Peter Abbott, Geoff Barrett and Tim Matthews – particularly notable.

David Montgomery was the architect of victory. He is also on a good run, his three singles taking him to 13 wins in his last 15. Lindsay Dodd won twice and the two combined to win the doubles for a 6-4 scoreline.

Division leaders Finchingfield A had a harder time of it than usual when Yeldham Whitlocks B stretched them to 6-4. Whitlocks’ Steve Willis scored wins over Ray Bradford and Chad Rose while James Dickson lost to them but surprisingly got the better of Dave Punt.

Dickson, a junior at the Colne club many years ago, is one of quite a number of players who have come back to the game after dropping out after their junior years.

He picked up a bat again after the village was given a table via a grant from the league and Table Tennis England. He has so far knocked up a number of useful wins, but success against Punt, a player with an 85 per cent average, was definitely the pick of them.

Eleven-year-old Arun Cochrane is just starting his junior career and he stood in the way of victory for third-placed Notley G in their match with Netts F. He won his three singles for the first time in his nascent career to enable his side to share the points.

Conrad Gomes was the man in form in Rayne H’s draw with Notley I. He remained unbeaten for the first time this season.