By Ron Fosker

With their eyes still very much on the possibility of capturing the league title, Netts A took another step towards a double when they advanced into the semi-final of the Braintree Table Tennis League team knockout cup.

They have some work to do if they are to catch Liberal A in the league, but they are the strongest team left in the cup and will be hoping to get their hands on the trophy for the first time in five years.

Their passage to the last four was not seamless.

The 5-3 win over Black Notley A involved four wins that went the full five games, and in all four they had to come from behind.

Alistair Hill had to come back from two games to one down against both Chris Parr and Andrew Huckson, while James Mullane found himself 2-0 down against Parr before winning the last three 11-4, 11-9, 11-8.

The climax of the evening brought together last year’s men’s singles finalists in which Paul Davison reversed that result by getting the better of Steve Kerns.

Like his team-mates, he had to come from behind before winning 9-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, 11-6.

Notley’s B team tasted defeat by the same score against Rayne D although in this case Rayne’s wins all came in three straight games. Adam Buxton and Paul Lombardi were both undefeated.

Liberal B also had to come from behind, in their case in the match score.

Sible Hedingham won the first doubles and then Mark Brown beat Frank Neill to establish a 2-0 lead.

But Liberal then got going and two singles each from Robin Armstrong and Mike Johnston helped them to a 5-3 victory.

Illness prevented Netts C fielding a team and they conceded the match to Notley C in the other semi-final.

In the restricted cup, Nomads, winners for the last two years, are on the trail again. Richard Kemp and Kevin Saunders in tandem were too much for Felsted RBL C, who registered just David Swash’s victory over Arthur Wilson.

Rayne E could be the team to challenge them this year.

They also had an 8-1 win, in their case against Notley G, but not before Liam Ebbs had scored an excellent win over Steve Siggs.

Felsted B enjoyed the break from their uphill league campaign to score a win by the same score over Rayne I.

Ian Rubens was the one to break the duck this time, with victory over Arthur Geen.

Third division Notley E produced the only upset of the round when they beat their own D team, from division two, 5-3.

Inevitably, Hannah Pitt was at the heart of the success, winning both her singles and her two doubles.