POSITIVE is the usual buzzword these days when a team are in trouble, but Hampshire opted for caution at Riverside and by the close of the third day they were on the brink of a huge defeat.

Having enforced the follow-on with a lead of 304, there was a danger that the Durham bowlers would run out of steam. But the sturdy Neil Killeen kept going manfully to take the first four wickets as Hampshire closed on 125 for five.

Killeen was wicketless in the first innings and the only other time he has taken more than two in a championship innings this season was in finishing with four for 30 when Somerset succumbed for 56 three weeks ago.

He can sometimes be reduced to the ordinary by top-class batsmen prepared to get after him, but he was allowed to keep probing away yesterday.

He moved the ball away from young left-handers Jimmy Adams and John Francis just enough to find the edge and also captured the prize scalps of John Crawley and Simon Katich.

Durham were never put under pressure by the visitors' timid approach until Robin Smith and Adams put bat to ball in more forthright manner against the change bowlers after tea.

Killeen returned to remove Adams, but Smith shrugged off a few scares to keep putting away anything loose in his familiar punchy fashion.

He was on 49 when he went well forward to Nicky Hatch and was lbw with five overs left. Mark Davies was unlucky not to take a wicket, especially as he beat Smith three times in one over.

The visitors are still 179 behind and Durham should record their fifth win of the season today. It will be their first against Hampshire in the championship since Manoj Prabhakar's debut at Stockton in 1995, when the Indian played a prominent part in the 26-run victory.

The contests have often been blighted by the weather, notably when not a ball was bowled in four days at Riverside in early July six years ago.

It began to look as though the loss of 38 overs on Thursday might be crucial when Francis and Nic Pothas dug in on yesterday's resumption at 88 for four.

They added only 39 runs in the first 20 overs with Francis, in particular, looking content merely to survive.

A former Durham University student, he looked neat and composed and ready to bat all day, but once the breakthrough came on 161 there was little further resistance.

The last three wickets all fell on 211, with Paul Collingwood taking two in two balls to finish with three for 38, while Graeme Bridge had four for 47.

In their last home match Durham chose not to enforce the follow-on against Somerset, but this time the deficit was greater and they didn't have to worry about Shoaib Akhtar having time to recover from his morning spell.

There was also a little less time left, and with 14 overs to bowl before tea Killeen and the equally hard-working Davies made excellent use of the new ball.

They bowled seven overs each, conceded only 27 runs and gave former colleague Katich a tortured time during his six-over stay.

He looked nothing like the high-class player who made 135 against Durham at the Rose Bowl this year and was out for two when he tried to leave a ball from Killeen and played on.

Killeen had removed Crawley in his second over when the visiting captain pushed forward and edged to Collingwood, who further underlined his value by taking a low catch comfortably at first slip.

But when Durham brought on Collingwood and Hatch straight after tea the scoring rate doubled in the seven overs they bowled, forcing Killeen to be recalled.

He struck in his second over back when left-hander Adams was stuck on his crease and edged an away swinger to Phil Mustard. Six overs later Francis went the same way, although he did at least get forward.

Pothas survived for the last 16 overs, having stayed for 31 overs at the start of the day while dominating his stand of 81 with Francis.

After completing a 98-ball half-century Pothas was unlucky to be out without addition as he played a ball from Bridge into his boot and was caught by Nicky Peng at silly point.

Peng provided further evidence of his improving fielding with an athletic leap to his left at backward square leg to catch a well-timed clip off his toes by Francis off Collingwood.

Francis had batted 244 minutes for his 65 and the only time he showed any aggression was when Martin Love was positioned at a very straight, short mid-off. The next ball was bludgeoned straight past him before the batsman returned to his more sedate ways.

Hatch, who looked very close to having Pothas lbw with his first ball of the day and had a couple of other good shouts turned down, finally had his reward when Dimitri Mascarenhas played across a full-length ball.

Shaun Udal did something similar and was bowled by Bridge, who turned one away from left-hander Chaminda Vaas to have him caught at slip.

The innings came to a swift conclusion as Alan Mullally edged Collingwood to Mustard, and at 18 for two in the second innings Hampshire were in danger of a three-day defeat.

Smith spared them from that by surviving for 31 overs, but his removal got rid of the last real obstacle to a resounding Durham win.

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