At last, after nearly six months unbeaten, Rayne E’s Matthew Brown has met his match in the Braintree Table Tennis League’s second division.

Brown had won all 47 of his singles this season but that came to an end when he met Natalie Dodd.

The Sudbury Wanderers player, in her first season in the league, had to fight for the win but got there in the end after five games 11-4, 8-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-6.

It was a match that also brought to an end Brown’s unbeaten run in the doubles. Not so long this time as he and Dave Allinson lost in the third match of the season to Roy Hooper and Doug Sanders of Yeldham Whitlocks A, but he and his various partners, had remained unbeaten since then. This time it was Louise Hartshorn and Ian Shrubsole who did the damage against Brown and Peter Rickwood.

Brown’s wins over Hartshorn and Shrubsole were Rayne E’s only return in the 8-2 win for Wanderers.

The result was a bonus for Rayne’s D team, their rivals for second place, who could only manage a draw against Black Notley C. Rev Matthews was unbeaten for Notley, including a tight 3-2 (7-11, 8-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11- 9) win over Adi Kamma.

Notley’s D team improved their own chances of grabbing second place with a 7-3 win over Netts C, with Alesha Ellis-Austin unbeaten. Richard Whiteside won his three singles in Rayne F’s 6-4 defeat by Notley E but spare a thought for Martin Brunker, who battled through three five-game sets but came away empty-handed.

Bottom team Netts D managed only two sets against Yeldham A, but both were worthy of note. Dave Montgomery, playing up from division three, scored a good win over Kevin Mills while Jimmy Calisin got the better of Doug Sanders, who doesn’t give much away.

In division one, there were two 10-0 wins, an unsurprising one for Rayne A against their own C team but a more unexpected one for Notley B over Liberal C.

Rayne B and Liberal B, competing for the unsung fourth place in the table, had differing fortunes, Rayne B losing 7-3 to third-placed Sudbury Nomads – for whom Aron Jordan was unbeaten – while Liberal B had an 8-2 over Netts B with James Mullane and new signing Chris Denyer unbeaten.

Scott Dowsett and Zach Harrington took seven sets between them in Liberal A’s 7-3 win over Notley A.

The top two in division three continue to pull away, the gap to third-placed Notley G widening considerably after their 8-2 defeat by leaders Finchingfield A.

Second-placed Sudbury Strollers were even more dominant with a 9-1 win over Finchingfield’s B team.

Notley I remain comfortably fourth after wins of 7-3 over Notley H and 6-4 against fifth-placed Rayne G. Ben Southgate won six out of six.

At the other end of the table, Rayne H, in 10th place, scored a good win over Yeldham B, three places above them. Chris High, Ian Rubens and Tim Townsend all won twice but could not find a way past Steve Willis.

Netts F stayed above their E team after beating them 6-4, where the E team’s Dave Montgomery stretched his unbeaten run to 18.