THE wheels came rattling off Abergavenny's title challenge at Chepstow on Saturday, as the home side won an enthralling encounter by two wickets.

Still harbouring hopes of winning the league, Aber knew they had to try and take maximum points from every game, and hope Usk and St Fagans slipped up along the way.

Skipper James Schofield won the toss and elected to bat first on what looked a pretty good wicket.

The early overs held promise as Greg Fury and Andrew Jones struck a number of early boundaries off Sellers and Dobbie as they reached 33 off the first nine overs.

However, the true nature of the pitch was revealed as the accurate medium seamers of the Chepstow first change bowlers, and suffocating field settings meant that run accumulation was a tortuous experience on a very low and slow surface.

Fury was eventually caught at mid-on trying to break the shackles, bringing Ryan Watkins to the crease.

Five overs later, Jones fell to a good low catch at short cover, bringing to an end an uncharacteristically stodgy knock from the opener.

Youngster Will Glenn set about building a good partnership with Watkins, who looked in good form. With the score on 92 from 27 overs, Glenn was caught behind, and Abergavenny were just about in a position to kick on and post a respectable target.

Gavin Heritage also appeared in good touch after his knock against Usk on Bank Holiday Monday. With the fourth wicket pair progressing nicely, it came as something of a surprise when Watkins was bowled by Sellers, bringing to an end a super knock of 60.

However, his dismissal brought about a drop in scoring rate as youngster Alex Astley-Jones found this a difficult experience, that will nevertheless stand him in good stead as he enjoys a run in the first team at the end of the season.

It took the arrival of Schofield to inject some impetus back into the innings as he and Heritage ran well, and picked off the bad balls that came their way.

The loss of Heritage for a well made 30 didn't particularly affect the scoring rate as Chaitanya Sanapala maintained the momentum with equally energetic running. With some late contributions from Ben Pike and Tom Watkins, Aber posted 195-8, a total they felt was a good return on that wicket.

However, opener James got the Chepstow reply off to a flyer, striking several sumptuous boundaries off Ryan Watkins' opening five-over spell, on his way to 30, before being trapped LBW by Tom Watkins at the other end.

Despite losing two wickets, Chepstow looked ahead of the game, as Pike and Will Ford proved expensive in their early overs. Schofield introduced himself into the attack, and although he bowled a few too many boundary balls, he did pick up the wicket of Dobbie, well caught by Astley-Jones off a full toss.

Ford had now settled into a lovely groove, and in his sixth over, was rewarded with two wickets, leaving the home side on 117-5 and the game in the balance.

In between some testing deliveries, more loose balls from Schofield were well put away by Kings, and the score advanced to 142, before the captain reintroduced Ryan Watkins in his stead.

Watkins struck three times in his first two overs to reduce Chepstow to 143-8. However, neither he, nor Will Ford (who finished an excellent ten-over spell with the figures of 2-27), nor Tom Watkins could make the next decisive breakthrough, as Chepstow's positive early run rate allowed Dickinson the opportunity to just block out an end, while Kings continued calmly past 50.

Ultimately, despite a good little spell from Sanapala, Kings guided the home side to victory with four balls to spare, compiling an excellent 71 not out.

So a second successive disappointment for Abergavenny, who were hampered by the losses of Jon Denning and Dan Cooke from their bowling resources. Nevertheless, they rightly felt they had scored enough to win the game, but just couldn't quite finish the job in the field.

It is likely that any title aspirations they may have held have disappeared for another year, but they will be determined to finish the season on a high note and do what they can to keep the pressure up on the leading pair

Meanwhile, if Usk can avoid defeat in the their remaining matches at home to Pentyrch and Rogerstone, they will win the title despite the efforts of nearest rivals St Fagans and Panteg.