A final-over Kent Spitfires home defeat to Nottinghamshire Outlaws dented their chances of progressing to the Metro Bank One-Day Cup knockout stages on Thursday.

Matt Montgomery hit an unbeaten 92 as the Outlaws overhauled Kent’s 259-9 with only one ball to spare to close on 263-9 after a gritty last-wicket stand by Montgomery and his final partner Dane Paterson (16 not out), who needed 35 when they came together with five overs remaining.

Hamid Qadri took 4-47 but the hosts were left to rue their failure to build on a first-wicket stand of 138.

Montgomery, fittingly, scored the winning runs when he reverse-swept Grant Stewart (0-38) for four to conclude a tense run chase.

It was something of a “four-pointer” at Canterbury’s Spitfire Ground, with Kent third in Group A and Notts needing to win both their remaining fixtures to stand any chance of qualifying.

Spitfires chose to bat in front of a crowd of more than 3,000 on the club’s Community Day and their openers were unmolested during a strong stand but, for a second consecutive game, they failed to really push on once that partnership was broken.

Ben Compton was the first man to go, victim of a sharp caught and bowled by Liam Patterson-White (1-31) in the 27th over for 59. Daniel Bell-Drummond soon followed for 79, caught behind off Tom Loten (1-60).

It wasn’t technically a collapse as the next pair of Jack Leaning and Alex Blake put on 33, but the flow of boundaries dried up and the latter was out for 11 when he cut Lyndon James (4-45) to Ben Martindale.

James bowled Leaning for 24 and Harry Finch was run-out for nine by Haseeb Hameed.

Jaydn Denly at least broke a spell of exactly 10 overs without a boundary but he, in turn, was stumped for 11 after he came down the wicket to Calvin Harrison (1-39).

The first maximum of the match didn’t arrive until the 46th over when Stewart creamed Loten over cow corner and, as Kent tried a late charge, James Bazley was caught and bowled by James for 15.

By the time Stewart was lbw for 25 to Paterson (1-50), any hopes of a 300 plus score had long since been abandoned. Qadri was caught by Sam King for three after skying James and it was left to the last wicket pair to milk what they could off the last two overs.

Scoring didn’t seem any easier when Nottinghamshire were chasing, either. They were 66 without loss in the 16th when Ben Slater (29) was bowled by Qadri during a spell when they went 11.5 overs without finding the rope.

In Qadri’s next over, he bowled James for eight and Martindale was then run-out for 38. He seemed to flinch while anticipating Compton’s throw and couldn’t ground his bat before Nathan Gilchrist broke his wicket.

After a campaign dogged by injury, Gilchrist (1-49) roared with joy when he bowled Hameed’s middle stump for 27 for only his second wicket of the season - in any format – and his first at Canterbury.

Patterson-White was out for six after he thick-edged Qadri to Blake and King was stumped off Parkinson (2-46) for 12.

When teenager Denly (1-29) bowled Dane Schadendorf for nine, Notts were seven down with 79 needed but Harrison and Montgomery eroded the target with some clever running, only for the former to cut Qadri straight to Compton at backward point.

Loten was caught behind off Parkinson but Paterson played sensibly and, with an over to go, the target was down to seven off the final over.

Montgomery just blocked the first for a single and Paterson drove the second for a crucial four. A single off the third tied the scores.

The fourth was a dot and Montgomery then executed a classy reverse-swept four to clinch the win.

“It’s a tough one to take,” said Bell-Drummond.

“It was, obviously, a really exciting game and it’s a shame we came out on the wrong side of it. But there’s a lot of positives to take.

“In the field, we were really good defending but I thought we were about 15 or 20 runs short, so it was a great effort by the guys to take it so close.

“The pitch was quite nice at the start but then it started to grip a bit more.

“There was a bit of seam there as well but, on the whole, it was quite a nice pitch so we were thinking 300, but then as the ball got softer, it started to turn more. So really, [we] wanted 280 and had to settle for the score we got.

“The guys did really well trying to defend it. We played to our strengths with the spin but knew it was going to be tough with Notts. They played well and Montgomery played a brilliant knock there so we’ve got to hold our hands up.

“The spinners were excellent, they’ve done really well in the tournament and they bowl really well in tandem, as well as Jack Leaning in the powerplay.

“They’ve got a great combination going. It’s a shame we couldn’t make it three on the spin, but that’s our plan going forwards.”

Kent host Essex at Canterbury on Sunday and end their run of group-stage games away to Hampshire on Tuesday.