Sussex were down to the bare bones at Bristol yesterday but the holders should still have recorded back-to-back wins in the FP Trophy.

A game they were winning until the penultimate over slipped away as Gloucestershire scraped home by one wicket with one ball to spare.

Six runs were needed when James Kirtley began the last over and the drama increased when the hosts lost two wickets without a legitimate delivery being bowled.

Ian Fisher was run out off the first but Kirtley over-stepped and conceded a no ball. Incredibly, Steve Kirby was also run out off the free hit which followed when he unaccountably charged down the pitch.

But last man Anthony Ireland kept his nerve, squeezing the penultimate delivery to the mid-wicket boundary to see his side home.

Chris Adams joined the long list of casualties after going down with food poisoning while the absence of Rana Naved, Luke Wright and Jason Lewry left the attack short of experience.

Yet for so long Sussex seemed to be back on track. Richard Montgomerie scored a perfectly-paced 100 off 87 balls to add to his 125 against Somerset last week. He certainly did not deserve to be on the losing side and admitted defeat was hard to take.

He said: "I can't remember too many games when we played so well yet still lost. Last season we won five or six of those tight games but it's still frustrating to be on the losing side this time.

"I was obviously pleased with my innings. In the past when we had such a long delay I would have fretted a bit but I feel nice and relaxed at the moment. Long may it continue."

It was tough on Sussex and in particular off-spinner Ollie Rayner who conceded 11 runs in the penultimate over, most of them it seemed off inside edges.

Rayner was one of four players with just 22 one-day appearances between them in the Sharks' line-up yet for a long time it looked as if their older heads would see them home.

Chris Liddle took some stick from Craig Spearman but he got Gloucestershire's other key man - Australian left-hander Marcus North - to claim his first one-day wicket for the county.

Robin Martin-Jenkins made two key incisions, removing Spearman and Chris Taylor as he and Mushtaq Ahmed strangled the reply in mid-innings.

But a stand of 70 in seven overs between Alex Gidman and David Brown gave the Gladiators fresh hope.

Rayner and Tom Smith, on his competition debut, had to share eight overs and they went for 67 runs, although Rayner appeared to have put Sussex back in control when he bowled Gidman as he slogged across the line in the 28th.

Earlier, no one had timed the ball more sweetly all day than Montgomerie on a typically slow, seaming Bristol pitch.

He struck 12 fours and accelerated from 50 to his hundred off just 32 deliveries. One back foot drive to the extra cover boundary off Mark Hardinges was worth braving any Bank Holiday snarl up on the M4.

The rest of the top order played round him and crucial momentum came in the last ten overs when Sussex scored 86. Carl Hopkinson played his part with 31 off 23 balls including a six over long on off Kirby.

With the outfield drying out all the time, Gloucestershire fancied their chances especially while Spearman was there.

He hit successive deliveries from Liddle for six as 19 came off the left-armer's fourth over. And the Kiwi was starting to warm to the task when Martin-Jenkins trimmed his off bail as he pushed forward in the 11th over.

Chris Taylor was bowled giving himself room to cut and with Mushtaq at his parsimonious best Sussex were able to tighten the screw but not tightly enough as it turned out.

All is not lost for the holders but they need to get back on track against Glamorgan on Friday - and they need one or two of their more experienced players back as well.

Meanwhile, Luke Wright will return after two weeks out with a rib injury in the three-day friendly against Cardiff UCCE at Hove, starting today (11am).

Sussex will not finalise their team until before the start but the likes of Murray Goodwin, Mushtaq Ahmed, Adams and Montgomerie will be rested, which suggests promotion for a couple of youngsters from the Academy.

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