THE River Chelmer was not at its best for the Essex Interclub League match where the Braintree Team slumped to seventh place on the day and now lay second overall to Maldon, who won the match.

Mark Banks won through to the individual knockout final, though, and finished fourth overall on a dismal day for the team.

Due to the league fixture, both Braintree matches were at Notley last week and the Friday match was once again a very close finish.

New member John Walker had three small carp and one F1 with a few silvers to win the match with 16-6-0.

Jim Loosley did his usual trick of a carp on the whistle, but just failed to win, falling just four ounces short on 16-2-0.

Gary Tisshaw won the top section with 9-0-0.

In the Sunday match, Chris Orrin had carp at intervals throughout the match to end up with a dozen fish for an easy win totalling 39-4-0.

It was a family one-two as father Mark Orrin had three carp and two F1s plus silvers in second place with his 21-8-0.

Pete Thompson had two carp for the bulk of his 14-4-0 in third place.

On Sunday the Braintree Club are at the Long Pond at Clare for the Pole Trophy. Anyone wanting to fish should contact Pete Thompson.

n Braintree members are reminded of the Saturday restrictions at Notley in the shooting season.