A weakened Braintree Rays team were beaten 23-13 by Old Timers in Enfield.

The Rays, who were missing their starting pitcher and catcher, were in confident mood having beaten their opponents only seven days earlier.

However, a strong finish by the home side proved the Rays' downfall.

The Old Timers made a strong start, scoring five runs in the first innings from Barratt, Raybould, Gidney, Walker and Chandler.

But the Rays hit back with three of their own, with Marcus Gooday and Andrea Perticati hitting singles to get on base before Daryl Seymour hit a double to leftfield to bring them home.

He then also made it home, off a base hit from Warren Shrimpton.

The Old Timers were held to two runs in the second after a couple of strikeouts from Seymour, who was pitching his first game in over a decade.

But Rays failed to score any further runs in the second.

In the third and fourth innings the Old Timers failed to score a run, in which time Gooday made his first of two pick offs at second to stop runners stealing a base.

The Rays then started to get their heads in the game.

They scored eight runs in the two innings to take the lead for the first time in the game, with base hits from Gooday, Trevor Pudney, Dave Lobb and Andrea and a couple of doubles from Daryl and Rudy Moss.

In the fifth the Old Timers scored three runs to bring the game back to within a single run and the Rays responded by getting one run from Dave Lobb RBI'd by Andrea.

But the Rays had a poor sixth inning, allowing the Old Timers to score eleven runs to leave them trailing 21-12.

The Rays needed to bat well but only managed one run from Shane Macro, RBI'd by Dave Clarke.

The Old Timers score a further two runs in the seventh to take a ten-run advantage and with that a chance to beat the Rays on a slaughter rule with a shut out.

Rays needed to score a run to keep the game alive and claimed a strikeout before Perticati advanced to second, needing a base hit to bring him home.

But that eluded the Rays as Raybould finished the game with a strikeout, leaving Old Timers victorious.

The Rays' next game is at King George's Playing Field on July 20, 1pm start.