RABAH YOUSIF S excellent recent form continued as his 400m victory helped Newham & Essex Beagles to their second British Athletics League victory in a row at the weekend. The talented sprinter was in top form in Manchester as he came home in 46.34 in the

RABAH YOUSIF'S excellent recent form continued as his 400m victory helped Newham & Essex Beagles to their second British Athletics League victory in a row at the weekend.

The talented sprinter was in top form in Manchester as he came home in 46.34 in the individual 400m, while he led the team to victory in the 4x400m relay - a win which sealed the victory for his side.

It was a major triumph for the under-strength Beagles who beat Birchfield Harriers by only two points, and at the halfway stage of the four-round competition, lead with 16 points with Birchfield 2.5 points behind in second.

Happy team manager Tony Shiret said: "We decided in the end to deploy our nuclear capacity, so we put Rabah on alert. Initially, he wasn't going to do it. But in the end that's what won it for us.

"We had a pretty average team and came out on top because we have strength in depth. I hope we get a better team out next time.

"I thought it was going to be closer because we were weaker from the first match and everyone else was stronger. But I didn't think it would be that close."

The meet began with the 100m and with Mark Findlay missing, Ryan Scott finished fourth in 10.47 seconds with Aidan Syers winning the B title in 10.62.

Scott came eighth in the 200m (21.95), while Bruce Tasker (21.76) finished fourth in the B event.

Robbie Schofield finished second in the 800m registering a time of 1.50.21 while James Shane won the B event in 1.52.44.

Moumin Geele could only capture second in the 1,500m (3.52.47) although Keith Gerrard, who is used to lengthier runs, did win the B event in 3.53.92.

Nathan Riding (10.16.23) finished seventh in the 3,000m steeplechase as Leigh Crispin (10.20.84) finished fifth in the B event, while in the 400m hurdles Dave Green was eighth in 53.68, although Steve Green won the B event in 53.25.

In the 110m hurdles, Alex Al-Ameen was fifth in 14.37 with B team runner Suote Nyonanyo second in 14.48.

To fight off the growing pressure from Manchester and Birchfield Harriers, the Beagles needed a solid performance in the field events and their athletes duly delivered.

Kieran Kelly (18.31) and Jamie Stevenson (17.10) completed a much-needed double victory in the shot putt while in the hammer, Simon Brown (66.85m) was fifth as Amir Williamson (60.02) was second in the B event.

Discus thrower Simon Cooke was seventh (48.21m), a placing replicated by B event competitor Adrian Hemery (38.96m), while Chris Hughff (63.93m) was second in the javelin with Jon Lundman (51.10m) fifth in the B event.

Andrew Fernandez finished third in the men's long jump with a leap of 7.37m, with Nyonanyo second in the B event after jumping 6.87m.

Josh Ejinkoye was eighth after jumping 12.93m as Nelson Oboh was fifth with a jump of 12.54m. He was also in action coming seventh in the high jump after clearing 1.90m while Dan Dunscombe replicated that clearance, but finished fourth.

Adrian Hemery was fifth in the pole vault after clearing 4.20m as the team's 4x100m line-up of Ryan Scott, Bruce Tasker, Harvey Byrne and Aidan Syers finished second in 41.63.

Needing to finish above Birchfield in the final event, the 4x400m, the pressure was really on the Beagles to perform, but the quartet of Dave Green, Steve Green, Fernandez and Yousif delivered to win by almost a second in a time of 3.12.55.