BLACKBURN Harriers are hoping that a restructuring of the Northern Men's League will keep them in Division One.

After completing their fixtures by finishing third of three against Leeds and Mandale, they have only beaten one of their eight rivals this season.

But relegation might not follow as the league is considering a move to extend the First Division from nine to 12 clubs. That would allow the usual three promotions, but without any teams being demoted.

The present system of three team matches, which is new this year, has been criticised with many feeling that the matches lack the competitive atmosphere which is generated with more teams.

The new proposal would involve a return to matches between six clubs by splitting the league into two groups. Whether there will be consequences for the clubs outside the First Division is not yet clear.

Meanwhile at Leeds, Mark Haydock took victory in the 'A' hammer and Rob Barton signed off from his summer campaign with a season's best 1:58 when winning the 'A' 800m. Later this week Rob and twin Liam leave for Troy State University in Alabama.

Rob's replacement is already on the Harriers' production line. Matt Wood sliced three more seconds off his PB at Trafford's BMC Meeting last Tuesday to reduce his 800m time to 2:00.49 seconds. That lifts him to second in the Under 15's National Rankings and will put him in good heart for this weekend's AAA's Championships.

In the final Division 3C match at Ormskirk, Burnley beat Pendle by a single point. Each has now logged two first and two second places putting both in line for promotion. Provisional results indicate that Pendle are the champions with an aggregate points score of 1120 compared to Burnley's 1106.

David Read with a club record 43.90m set in winning the 'A' javelin, and David Thornton with 'A' wins at 400m and 800m were among Pendle's individual stars. With David Lowe and Bryce Butterworth they were also relay team winners in the 4x400m.

Burnley's Chris Green had six top three finishes, and then ran a 400m relay leg in 52 seconds! His three wins came in the 'B' the pole vault, 100m and hammer.

Colin Bailey won the 'A' long jump as a stand in, and also taking 'A' string pole vault, high jump and high hurdles. Danny Whittaker and Simon Woods scored a maximum in the 200m as Danny also took the 'A' 100m and 'B' triple jump.