Woodford Green's men’s team finished fifth at the second Premiership fixture of the season in Manchester on Saturday.

The result leaves Woodford fifth in the league – eight points behind leaders, and winners on the day, Shaftesbury Barnet.

Ryan McKinlay made a major contribution for Woodford, earning points in the B-string pole vault before finishing second in the 800m B event and coming third soon after in the 3000m steeplechase.

Tom Phillips had a very good run in the ‘A’ 800m, losing out on first place by just 0.01 seconds.

Phillips later raced over 1500m and picked up good ‘B’ points, placing fourth, while in the ‘A’ event, junior James Stockings raced well in only his second BAL outing also to place fourth.

Tomaz Plibersek came fourth in the ‘B’ steeplechase.

Woodford’s field eventers contributed good points as hammer thrower Mark Dry finished fourth overall, but won the ‘B’ event with 69.51m.

In the ‘A’, Andy Frost was in good form as he placed third.

The discus saw Tom Norman finish third in the ‘A’ event, a positionmatched by Chris Linque in the ‘B’.

In the ‘B’ javelin, Stuart Harvey came second, while in the long jump, Adrian Stamp’s 6.90m placed him third.

Making his BAL debut for Woodford was Dan Gardner in the high jump and he cleared 4.60m to finish fourth.

In the triple jump, Peter Kirabo’s 14.47m placed him third in the ‘A’, while in the ‘B’, Prince Ezenwa was also third with 14.07m.

Robert Wolski returned after a long lay-off to post an impressive 2.31m personal best in the high jump.

In the sprints, Omolulu Abiodun dipped for eighth in the ‘A’ 100m with 10.97 secs and seventh in the ‘A’ 200m with 21.92 secs.

Eugene Ayanful meanwhile stepped into the ‘B’ string and picked up good points with a third in the 100m and a fourth in the 200m. Injuries meant Francis Smith was in ‘A’ string action in both hurdles races and he placed fourth over 400m.

Alan James also gained valuable points in the hurdles by finishing fourth over 400m.

The 4x100m squad of Jason Greenidge, Sam Watts, Omolulu Abiodun and Eugene Ayanful combined well to place second.

Woodford’s men are next in action in Sheffield in four weeks time.

The club’s women’s team made a solid start to their promotion bid in Division One’s first fixture at Southampton on Sunday, finishing third.

There were individual wins in the hammer for both Myra Perkins and Lucy Marshall.

Perkins came third in the ‘A’ string hammer and third overall and in winning the ‘B’ string, Lucy Marshall threw 51.14m.

Marshall also competed in both the shot and discus, placing fourth in the former and third in the latter ‘B’ event.

In the ‘A’ discus, Hollie Redman was not far from her best ever throw to place second and in the ‘B’ shot she recorded a personal best for fourth.

Redman was also second in the ‘B’ javelin.

Heptathlete Gemma Weetman returned to action in the ‘A’ javelin and came second.

Weetman also competed in the long jump where she was third in the ‘B’, a position she matched in the ‘B’ high jump.

In the long jump ‘A’ event Ayamba Akim just lost out, clearing the same height as the winner but coming second.

In the pole vault, Louise Shortland also cleared the same height as the winner for second.

Kitty Eleyae was third in the ‘A’ long jump and also helped out in the ‘B’ triple jump where her personal best of 10.88m placed her third. In the ‘A’, Stephanie Aneto was also third with 12.06m.

On the track, Elaine O’Neil finished third in the 100m, while in the ‘B’ events Katie Skelding was third in the 100m and fourth in the 200m.

In Skedling’s specialist event – the 100m hurdles – she crossed the line second with 13.97 and it was in this ‘B’ event that Woodford's third victory was gained, as Nusrat Ceesay won in 14.51.

Sara Bird competed over both 1500m and 3000m, placing fifth in the former and third in the latter.

Rachel Lund competed in three events, the 800m ‘A’, the ‘B’ 1500m and the ‘B’ 3000m where she recorded a highest finish in third.

There were two solid relay team performances to close the meeting as the 4x100m came fourth, while the 4x400m finished third.