ABERGAVENNY pulled off a dramatic win against Penarth on Saturday to keep their title aspirations alive.

There were any number of key contributions from different players, but the two outstanding performances came from Will Glenn with the bat, and, once again, Jon Denning with the ball.

Penarth won the toss in a game reduced to 37 overs a side after the morning rain, and elected to bowl first.

Abergavenny got off to their customary fast start as Andrew Jones reduced Greg Fury to spectator status for the first wicket partnership as he raced to 26 off just 17 balls.

However, in the fourth over, he was bowled after an uncharacteristic sashay down the wicket to Sims.

Ryan Watkins played two lovely drives to the boundary before he too fell to Sims, bowled for nine. Fury and Gavin Heritage took the score to 65 with some excellent shots, before Fury was caught at fine leg for 19.

Hertiage departed four overs later for 15, immediately followed by Richy Morris, and Abergavenny's innings was in danger of imploding at 76-5 in just the 13th over.

There followed a partnership of sorts as James Schofield dropped anchor, taking 20 balls to get off the mark.

However, Will Glenn kept the innings moving, playing the spinners superbly. Importantly, with run rate not really an issue due to the excellent start, the pair stayed together for 10 overs, preventing the innings from being wrapped up too early.

After a painstaking innings, and with the score on 106, Schofield tried to break the shackles and fell to a good tumbling catch at mid-on, trying to hit Thomas over the top.

The lower order continued to hang around and support Glenn, but wickets still fell regularly, until, in the 33rd over of 37, Tom Watkins was caught and bowled, bringing the innings to a close at 140 all out.

Will Glenn finished unbeaten on 45, and held the innings together - without his knock, Abergavenny would have have struggled to set Penarth a challenging target. As it was, they still gave Penarth an extra four overs to try and reach the 141 needed for victory - overs that could have made the difference.

Despite the disappointing performance with the bat, Abergavenny came out in very determined mood, intent on taking early wickets to put Penarth under pressure.

They did exactly that, as Jon Denning continued his purple patch with the ball, removing Thomas in the first over.

Ryan Watkins followed up immediately by having Provis - who had made 92 at the reverse fixture at Avenue Road - caught behind by Fury.

Denning then removed Sidford and Skone in his third and fourth overs to leave the innings in tatters on 23-4. Thereafter, Penarth, through Nick and Rhys Morgan, dug in and fought well, resisting Denning and Watkins' best efforts, as well as those of Tom Watkins and Will Ford who were introduced as the first change bowlers, both of whom were well suited to bowling on a slow, turning pitch.

Tom Watkins bowled a super spell of eight overs for 15 runs, but more importantly, removed the obdurate and well set Nick Morgan for 27.

Ford showed signs of a welcome return to form after a difficult couple of weeks, bowling an excellent and testing first six overs, before picking up the wicket of Sims in his seventh, aided by a very good catch by Dan Cooke at mid-off.

Ford finished with 1-37 from his spell. Schofield then brought himself on to bowl some off-breaks and struck in his first over, having his opposite number Docherty well caught by Jones at midwicket.

He should have had a second wicket in his next over, but Denning put down a relatively simple offering at mid-on. However, after one expensive and potentially match-deciding over from Heritage, Denning was given the chance to make amends, as Schofield gambled on bowling Penarth out early, rather than hold his opening bowlers back for the final overs.

With the score on 120-7, and with just 21 runs needed off 6.2 overs, Denning changed the game in Abergavenny's favour with the final two balls of his allotment.

First to go was Rhys Morgan, who had battled hard and run well, and looked like he might have taken Penarth to victory. Denning rapped him on the pads, and while the appeal for LBW hung in the balance, Jones removed all doubt by running him out anyway.

Immediately, and with his final ball, Denning swung another one back in and trapped Thomas LBW first ball to leave Penarth 120-9 with six overs to go.

Denning finished another exemplary spell with the figures of 8-2-24-4. Two overs later, the innings was wrapped up to bring this enthralling encounter to an end, as Ryan Watkins, who finished with 2-19, had last man Jones caught by Schofield to spark scenes of delight amongst the Abergavenny players.

Abergavenny face two crucial and season defining games over Bank Holiday weekend as they take on Panteg, and then table topping Usk, both at Avenue Road