DERBY AC again look as if they will be short-handed when they go to Leeds for the third meeting of their British Athletics League campaign today.

Holidays and injuries were both playing a part as captain Phil Harries battled to get a competitive team together – but at least he feels other teams will have faced the same problems.

Derby finished fourth of eight teams in each of the first two Division Two meetings and Harries acknowledges that a similar result today would be satisfactory.

It would all but ensure that the team have a second season at this level after their promotion last summer.

What will not be certain, however, until the events get underway, is just how much the only northern fixture of the four will affect the southern teams.

Harrow AC and Crawley AC, with a win and a second place each so far, lead the division but were facing a long trip today.

"There are always some athletes who are not keen to make the longer journeys and we have to hope that Crawley and Harrow will be a bit weaker as a result," said Harries.

"It's always the case and you just have to see who turns up on the day.

"But we have some injuries and some people are away, so if we could finish fourth again, I'd be satisfied."

The division is tight, too, with Notts AC sitting level on league points with Derby after finishes of third and fifth and Herne Hill Harriers sitting a point behind after finishing third and sixth.

Derby have been consistent, scoring 285 match points in the first meeting and only two more in the second meeting.

The effect of travelling – or the reluctance to do so – can be seen in Leeds' own results, with a fifth place finish when the season opened in Derby, followed by last place in the second meeting, in KIngston upon Thames.

The biggest effect of the absentees to Derby could be in their traditionally strong area of middle-distance running.

British steeplechase champion Luke Gunn is unavailable, as are Johnny Gilby and Alex Pilcher, while Welsh steeplechase champion Dave Westbury is injured.

But their absence throws up an interesting situation in which father and son Dav and Ben Connor are likely to line up side by side in the 5000m for Derby for the first time.

The pair have previously done the Great North Run together.

"Ben ought to finish in front of his dad but Dav is in pretty good shape, having had a good run in the Lndon Marathon," said Harries.

"It'll also be good for Ben to have a run against the seniors at this distance."

"Tom Lawrence will step up to do the steeplechase and I'm sure he'll do a good job."

Harries was also confident that decathlete Fran Baker would shake off a slight niggle to take part today.

Baker's ability to challenge in four or five events is always a big points-scorer for Derby.

It is not a great help to Derby that the club's Northern League fixture, for male and female athletes, is being staged on the same day, only a few miles away in Barnsley.

Derby lead Division Three East Central from Chesterfield after three meetings in this league.

"The club's going to be pretty stretched this weekend but we think we can carry it," added Harries.