Are Black Notley F going to be the Luton Town of the Braintree Table Tennis League?

Luton gained unexpected promotion to the Premier League in 2023 and then finished above the two teams that had gone up with them – a position Notley F now find themselves in.

They went up only because the league expanded to bring three new teams into division three.  Space had to be made for them and so three teams instead of one were put up to division two. Notley F (G last season) were the third of those.

They will not of course want to pursue the Luton comparison too far in view of their subsequent relegation, but the Braintree Table Tennis League is not so draconian as the Premier League and only relegates one team.

And at the moment that does not look like being Notley F, who currently sit in fourth place, with Yeldham Whitlocks A in seventh and last year’s division three champions Netts D 11th.

Both have had a tougher set of matches and have been missing significant players, Charles Calisin at Netts and Lorraine Burgess at Yeldham, so it could all change, but Notley will be pleased with the way the season has started.

Their latest win came against a Rayne F team boosted by the inclusion of Steve Buer. But Graham Chinnery outlasted Buer to win at 11-9 in the fifth game and won his other two singles to lead his team to a 6-4 win.

Netts D meanwhile lost 8-2 to Notley E, where Jim Davy was unbeaten, but Yeldham secured an excellent draw with league leaders Rayne D.

Dave Moles found a way past Roy Hooper but was found wanting by Doug Sanders, who in turn lost to Dave Marsh, who went on to lose to Hooper.

Sudbury Wanderers kept up their 100 per cent record with a 7-3 win over Notley D that moves them up to within two points of Rayne D with a match in hand. Natalie Dodd lost her unbeaten record to Paul Nicol.

Matthew Brown’s spotless record on the other hand remains intact after he took his three singles in Rayne E’s 6-4 win over Notley C.

In division one there were convincing wins for the top two. Rayne A beat their own B team 9-1 while Netts A had a 10-0 win over Liberal A. Victor Chan’s win over Adam Buxton for Rayne B was the only ripple on the pond.

Last year’s bottom team Liberal C kept up their unexpectedly impressive start to the season with another win, 6-4 over Netts B. All three Netts wins came from Szczepan Ziobro.

Against Sudbury Nomads, Notley B gave a debut to 20-year-old Luke Burridge, who started the evening by beating Ken Lewis, something that never comes easily, but he could not repeat the dose against Karl Baldwin, whose three singles helped his side to a draw.