MONTGOMERY underlined their fighting spirit and determination to beat the drop with a draw at Forton.
Richard Blayney bowled six superb overs that yielded 3-22 to limit Forton to 184-7.
Dave Mason starred in Monty's reply with a big hitting 70 to ensure his side a share of the spoils.
Despite Michael Williams (1-25) trapping opener Matt MacInne
s for five the hosts recovered with 76 runs for the second wicket.
Monty celebrated a crucial second wicket with Aaron Ruff-Cock bowling the big hitting Owen Meredith for his half century before Alan Heslop (35) followed him back to the pavilion with Forton on 115-3.
Blayney entered the fray and promptly tore through the middle order to end on (3-22) with Rob Yewdall (2-63) supporting.
An unbeaten John Hemmings (28no) steered Forton to 184-7.
Montgomery suffered an indifferent start to their reply with openers Andrew Black and Ruff-Cock (26) bowled by the prolific Chris Sayers.
Sayers also added the wicket of Yewdall while the departure of Richard Blayney and Ed Davies saw Monty slump to 121-5.
The introduction of Mason proved crucial for Monty with the middle order man blasting his way to a superb 70.
Sayers (5-51) finally got his man but by now Monty were in sight of victory.
However the visitors had to be content with a draw as Neil Tuffin (6no) and Rob Bennett (17no) combined in an unbroken eighth wicket stand.
Elsewhere Bishops Castle marked their return to action following the recent wet weather with a 36 run victory over Whittington.
Despite a confident knock from Richie Fifield (62) Castle struggled to 128-8 with Mike Lewis (4-32) and Adam Lewis (3-25) restricting the hosts.
Castle owed their victory to a splendid bowling display with Fifield (3-14), with Andrew Lewis (3-12) also shining.
Simon Palmer (2-18) and Stephen Morris (1-12) offered crucial support to dismiss Whittington for 92 inside 38 overs.
Only Neil Dermody (24) and Yuri Pugh (21) offered any resistance for Forton.
The full article contains 352 words and appears in County Times Express newspaper.
