HAILED as the type of comeback of which Frank Sinatra would have been proud, Kevin Bond's return ended with the final curtain coming down on Cherries.

All but ruled out of the run-in to a dramatic 1989-90 campaign by injury, the club captain and linchpin defender was recalled for the last match of the season.

He was drafted in as boss Harry Redknapp prepared for the Bank Holiday visit of Leeds when Cherries' destiny would be decided over 90 nailbiting minutes.

Bond had watched helplessly from the sidelines as Cherries had shipped 15 goals in the seven games he had missed since sustaining a foot injury at Portsmouth at the end of March.

A run of just one win in 15 games had left Cherries needing to beat Leeds to stay up, while the Yorkshire outfit required victory to take the (old) Division Two title.

"My recollection of the build-up is a bit vague," said Bond last night. "We were just focusing on trying to get that all-important win and thinking of nothing else."

Victory eluded Cherries as Lee Chapman escaped his marker Paul Miller and powered home an unstoppable header just four minutes into the second half.

Miller was criticised for allowing Chapman space to score, while it later emerged that two ticketless Leeds fans had jumped into his car as he made his way to the game.

Bond said: "I played at the back with Paul and it was difficult for us after Chapman had scored. It was one of those days that you don't like in your career.

"Unfortunately, we came up against a crack Leeds side.

"They needed to win to go up as champions so it was always going to be a really difficult day for us.

"As a club, we were probably punching above our weight in that division anyway and it had been a miracle to get there and then to stay there as long as we did.

"We'd had a poor run of results in the lead up to the game and an horrendous injury crisis. It was an awful feeling to go down but when you look back on it, perhaps it had been on the cards.

"It was a real battle for us and nothing was going to stand in Leeds' way of winning the title. You always tend to get some strange results towards the end of the season but we just didn't have the ammunition to give ourselves a chance of winning matches at that stage."