BRIAN Hall and Michael Smith made winning comebacks as Bolton Harriers finished equal sixth in the second British League match in Chelmsford.

Despite scoring three wins this time against just one in the opening match, an unusually high standard of competition saw the Leverhulme Park club struggle to reproduce the excellent fourth place they achieved in Liverpool in May.

Team Manager Les Hall was not worried by the result, expecting his men to beat nearest rivals Havering and Swindon in the next match in Blackpool.

"We'll have a much fitter squad in a month's time," he confidently predicted, as a number of athletes were battling for points despite injury or lack of sharpness.

One athlete bang on form was teenage high jumper Brian Hall, who got the nerves jangling when he required all three attempts to clear his opening height of 2m. After that it was plain sailing as he won the competition with his next jump at 2.05m.

He then cleared a magnificent season's best of 2.10m to put early season injury problems firmly behind him.

There was also a winning return for sprinter Michael Smith, with an 11 second victory in the 100m, and a victorious anchor leg in the sprint relay. Although his lack of fitness caught up with him in the 200m, for him the season starts here.

Ben Caldwell returned to form in the 400m hurdles with a huge season's best of 54.6 seconds for second, while youngsters Tom Lancashire and Ian Bowles both boosted their confidence for this weekend's English Schools Championships with second places and personal bests in the 800m (1:52.2) and 1500m (4:01.8). A good performance in the next match should guarantee the club a solid mid-table finish in their first ever season in the British League.