ABERGAVENNY put in a much improved performance against Penarth on Saturday, but it still wasn't enough to prevent them from going down by 93 runs.
Skipper James Schofield won the toss and inserted Penarth, hoping to exploit some early moisture in the pitch.
Niel Skelton bowled a super 10-over spell straight through, and was extremely unfortunate to only pick up one wicket - opener Hughes caught at gully by Will Owen.
After a couple of overs to find his range, Gavin Heritage settled into a testing line and length and was eventually rewarded with the wicket of Peter Docherty, caught behind by keeper Greg Fury.
Although Abergavenny were perhaps unlucky to pick up more wickets in the opening covers, Penarth were going well at just over four runs an over.
First team debutant Dan Hartland was introduced into the attack, getting some appreciable turn and picking up the wicket of Sidford, who was probably unfortunate to be given out LBW for 14.
That brought Penarth skipper Morgan to the crease to join Penarth number three Adam Shantry who was well set and building his innings nicely after the early tests posted by Skelton and Heritage.
The pair put on 131 for the fourth wicket at an excellent rate. Barnsley, Windross and Schofield worked hard but with the field spread, singles were easy to come by, and there were a few too many boundary balls.
Nevertheless, Abergavenny created more chances than the previous week, and bowlers were unfortunate to see a few catches of varying difficulty go to the ground.
They also prevented Penarth from exploiting the last 10 overs as fully as they could have done and Schofield and Owen Dawkins bowled a good line and length in the final overs.
Dawkins eventually removed Morgan for 65 to a catch by Schofield, who made amends for dropping the same batsman off the previous ball.
Schofild himself then picked up the wickets of James Docherty and Skone, before Abergavenny old boy JJ Davies joined Shantry, who battled excellently to reach a score of 127 not out, accumulating singles well, and picking off the bad balls.
The pair saw Penarth through a final total of 292-6 off their 50 overs.
If Abergavenny were to have a chance of chasing down this total, they needed a good start. Unfortunately, they got the exact opposite as Fury went in the second over for four, slicing a drive to cover.
Dan Hartland, Will Owen and Marc Taylor followed to the experienced Mark Frost who, as ever, bowled an extremely testing spell, in picking up three wickets in his opening covers.
This left Abergavenny 24 for four in the ninth over as Schfield joined Marc Evans at the wicket. With the previous week's batting collapse still fresh in the mind, the pair first set about settling themselves at the crease and stablising the innings.
Easier said than done with the introduction of left-arm spinner Mark Thomas who gained good turn from an excellent line and length, and began with three maidens in a row.
Slowly but surely, Schofield, and in particular, Evans put together a good partnership of 66 before Schofield went, caught behind off Thomas for 20.
Barnsley followed soon after, as Evans continued through to an excellent 61, before he fell with the score on 111 for seven.
Dawkins joined Heritage at the wicket with the innings wobbling a little. However, the pair batted extremely well in putting on 84, accelerating in the later part of the innings to take Abergavenny to 195 for 8, before Dawkins holed out to long for an excellent 55.
With three balls left, Abergavenny just failed to make it to 200 for their fourth batting point, finishing on 199-8, with Heritage unbeaten with a well-made 32 not out.
Although the result went against them, Abergavenny put in a decent performance, creating more chances in field, and crafting a good reply with the bat, especially given the poor start to their innings.
TRAVELLING to Bridgend on the back of an excellent victory at Cardiff, Abergavenny seconds were asked to bowl, and it soon become apparent that the whole team were suffering from a major hangover.
Firstly, Alex 'Denzil' Denning struggled to master the slope, bowling a series of wides, and this was compounded by a missed catch by John 'Foxy' Viveash.
This soon spread to the rest of the side, as Aber's ground fielding enabled Bridgend to build a healthy score. Chris 'Spunky' Hartland and Ryan 'Midgey' Jones bowled tidily, with Jones picking up a wicket.
Bridgend continued to accumulate runs, but when Andy 'Dumbledore' Timpson came on to cast his usual score restricting spell, the scoring rate soon started to fall.
At the halfway point, despite only taking one wicket, Bridgend were only on 89, and with youngster Clayton struggling to adapt, the pressure started to build.
Timspon finished his spell with excellent figures of 10 overs for just 29 runs, but was unfortunate not to get any wickets.
Ben 'Pikey' Pike and Owain 'Local Hero' Bradley kept up the pressure, but it was the re-introduction of Hartland that gave Aber the next breakthrough with a couple of quick wickets, both LBWs.
Bradley then tempted the increasingly frustrated batsmen to attempt to hit out, and he duly picked up four wickets, with catches by Hartland, Viveash and Jones, and another LBW. Bridgend moved over 200 with some lusty hitting by Smith, and the crowd could soon clap the first 50 of the day, as the extras piled up.
At the close, Bridgend had reached only 221 off their 50 overs, which will have been disappointing after the start they had.
Bradley was the pick of the bowlers with four for 34 off his 10 overs, although this innings would be remembered for 46 wides!
In reply, Aber got off to the worst possible start losing both Ioan 'Tiger' Lilley and Viveash cheaply.
Hartland and Ryland 'Should have gone to Specsavers' Wallace started about the repair work, and were soon dominating the Bridgend attack, and building a healthy reply.
Harland was again in excellent form, blasting the bad ball away to reach 50, and was ably supported by Wallace who took time to find some fluency.
The game then took a turn against Aber as both batsmen fell within a couple of overs, leaving Aber at 120 for 4 off 28 overs.
Jones then took up the challenge, and despite losing Jo 'Rusty' Hrastelj, Denning and Mark 'Stan' Winstanley, was helped along by Pike.
This partnership with some clever shot selection by Jones soon brought the target realistically within reach.
Jones soon reached 50, but then his luck ran out as he misjudged another sortie from the crease and was caught for 52.
It was then Pike's turn to pick up the baton, with 30 runs required at about a run-a-ball. Pike brought Aber to within 17 runs before Bradley was bowled, leaving just Timpson to help Pike pull off a remarkable victory.
Timpson called a few short singles and survived, and with just one over remaining a further seven runs were required.
Pike duly hit the first ball of the last over for four, making Bridgend bring in the field, and he then hit a square drive for another four to win the match.
Pike finished with 33 not out, as Aber scraped home with one wicket to spare.
Next week, a long awaited home match against local rivals Usk.
A SPIRITED display by the youngsters in the team propelled Abergavenny to victory in the John Macey 20/20 knockout Quarter final at Chepstow.
The homeside who beat Usk in the previous round, never recovered from losing three early wicket to the swing bowling of Jon Denning and Dai Windross, and though the father and son partnership of Paul and Dave Bennett brought some stability, they were both dismissed by 16-year-old Dan Hartland.
Tight bowling by Chris Hartland, Midge Jones and Ben Morgan coupled with some sound fielding restricted Chepstow, and the final wicket was captured in the last over with the score on 101.
In reply Abergavenny quickly lost 20-year-old captain Greg Fury for 12 and Dan Hartland for 16, but 18-year-old Marc Taylor (32 n.o) and Ben Morgan ( 35 n.o) saw Abergavenny home in the 15th over.
The semi-final will be played at Avenue Rd on a date still to be agreed.