Billericay Sports B kept themselves in contention for the runners-up spot in the Brentwood & District Table Tennis League Premier Division with an 8-2 home win over visitors Billericay A.
Twenty-one of Sports' points have come from Alex Abbott who has enjoyed seven straight maximums. Mike Johnston and Keith Ashton supported in this match, picking up two wins each. Both lost to Gary Ward.
John Parodi and Dave Carter were the visitors' other players.
Selex B hover close to the bottom of the table and were beaten 3-7 at home by Cranston Park. Four players collected two wins – Paul Brown for Selex was denied his maximum by Paul Morris (2 wins), John Mansfield (2 wins) denied by Chris Aukett, and Terry Timms (2 wins) by Brown. Kevin Smart was Selex's third man.
Writtle A and Selex B fielded two players each. Matthew Brown was unbeaten in two games against the Selex duo of Garry Hartgrove and Trevor Ward. Dave Moles remained scoreless. The doubles point for the visitors gave them a 5-4 win -- their first of the season.
In the first division, Billericay Sports D lost 3-7 at home to Buttsbury A. John Darling scored two wins and Mick Joslin one, but that was all the team could collect. Malcolm Henstock was pointless against an unbeaten Paul Sturton, Sue Hickman (2 wins) and Caroline Cole (1 win).
Buttsbury A followed up with a welcome 9-1 home win over Mountnessing B, who could field only two players in John Newman and Jon Dyson. Dyson picked up the solitary point against Cole. Gary Carr and Sturton were unbeaten for Buttsbury and they jump to second place in the table.
A Sports D team, with Danny Dempsey in for Darling, saw a reversal of earlier results and claimed a 7-3 away win at Billericay C. Malcolm Henstock was unbeaten for the visitors, Mick Joslin (2 wins and Dempsey (1 win) over Brian Farmer (2 wins), Stan Dyson (1 win) and Adrian Atkinson (nil points). Bob Garson, David Humble and Brian Steward all collected two wins for Brentwood B in a 6-4 win over Mountnessing A. They came up against an in-form Mick Morris who was undefeated. Steve Nicholls and Dave Finlayson were unable to assist although a doubles point made the score look more respectable.
Leaders of the second division, Brentwood Hard, maintained their position, defeating second-placed St Joseph's Hutton 6-4 for a welcome away win. Peter Childs was unbeaten, Greg Cooper claimed two wins and Nick Wright one over Mike Pratley (1 win), David Barnes (2 wins) and Ron Grief.
Buttsbury B began their match with a full side against Buttsbury C but Frances Hutt had to retire after one tie. Alan Tofts and Peter James could only gather two points from the remaining games and ended 2-8 against an unbeaten Graham Sturton, Ray Horton and Louis Brown (2 wins each).