Kent captain Rob Key has praised his injury-hit troops for their battling LV Championship performance against Yorkshire in Scarborough where the visitors all but transformed a certain defeat into a famous win.

Ultimately Key was left feeling frustrated at not quite polishing the job off as Yorkshire's last pair at the crease, Matthew Hoggard and Deon Kruis, survived the last 28 balls of the match with a ring field to secure a draw.

Key, whose side collected seven points from the match but who might have gone top of the table had they won, said he was ultimately proud of the performance.

He said: "We were out the game for long periods really and it was a massive toss for us to lose because it was a 'softish' and on the first day they were good bowling conditions. We were up against for three quarters of the match really but showed great character with the bat.

"Neil Dexter, Martin van Jaarsveld yet again and Joe Denly all played important knocks and then James Tredwell, whose been struggling for form of late, played a crucial role with a 50 that took our lead beyond 200.

"We would have taken that match position after day one, day two and day three and probably up until tea on day four, but now you feel just a bit disappointed that we didn't push home for the win but in the end it was a great effort. We were close, but not close enough.

"Matthew Hoggard was a decent batsman for them to have in at that stage, he has a lot of experience and wasn't going to get overawed by the situation.

"Min Patel has saved games for us in similar finishes and that's the type of character you need out there, an experienced wise head, and he showed what a decent blocker he is.

"The boys bowled well to get us into that position it was just a shame they couldn't get us over the finish line in the end.

"They needed 204 off 51 overs on a decent wicket on which we'd just scored over 400, it looked game over, but in the last one-and-a-half sessions the bowlers put out some serious performances with the ball because without taking wickets we were never in the game.

"Robbie Joseph was fantastic with the new ball and got us the two early wickets we needed and Amjad Khan and Ryan McLaren gave him the support he needed thereafter. We showed great character to get into the position we did."

Key explained that he believes the strain of reaching two finals and contesting for success in all four major competitions is now starting to show on his small and injury-hit squad.

He added: "If you look back the 50-odd extras we conceded in their first innings hurt us, but we also dropped a few catches here.

"People are still starting to show signs of fatigue, that showed in both matches here (Scarborough), particularly in the one-day game on Monday when we played a tired game.

"The squad's starting to look a bit threadbare yet the players stood up to be counted in this four-day game which is pretty pleasing for me as the captain."