CAMBRIDGE Harriers' senior men's ambitions for a third consecutive southern men's title were dented at Battersea on Saturday as arch-rivals Bournemouth knocked them off the top of Division One.

With decathlete Tony Tipping and two of their top jumpers among those missing from the team, this fixture was never going to be easy for the Harriers.

Conversely the club from Hampshire were fielding their strongest team of the season.

The effect of the missing personnel took its toll early on as Cambridge failed to establish their usual dominant lead.

Indeed, with the first six events over, their only success had come in the B-string of the pole vault.

Even the sprinters struggled to make their mark and the sight of Jamie Wass hobbling through the 400m after suffering an injury after only 50m seemed to epitomise everything which was going wrong.

Francois Potgieter, though, again shone in the 110m hurdles to win in 14.9s.

It wasn't until the middle distance runners came on the scene when the fightback began in earnest.

Lee Coogan and Dave Reader (800m) and Dean Lacy and Joe Durrant (1,500m) all won their events, although Durrant was another not 100 per cent fit.

Andy Sheridan and Sam Murphy both then scored more vital points in the 5,000m and steeplechase, with Sheridan's superb A-string runs leaving the door open for Murphy to secure a winning B-string double.

There was also some success in the throws, notably Andy Kruszewski's fine win in the discus, along with sterling support from both Potgieter and up-and-coming youngster Craig Lacy in the javelin.

However, the ever-decreasing number of events always left victory looking tantalisingly out of reach for Cambridge.

Nonetheless, the 4x100m team, which included middle distance man Coogan, still ran a time of 44.8s to place second.

Andy Knight, Potgieter, Lacy and Durrant dominated the 4x400m relay.

In the end, though, Cambridge Harriers could do no more than reduce the deficit and had to concede first place in both the match and league to Bournemouth.

Result: Bournemouth 141.5 points, Cambridge Harriers 132 points, Serpentine 103 points, Chelmsford 82 points and Ipswich 75.5 points.