Chris Adams is adamant his tactics were right as Sussex closed the gap on Championship leaders Surrey to four points.

Saturday's top-of-table dust-up petered out into a disappointing draw.

The more vocal members of the usually placid Hove crowd felt Adams had been too cautious when he accepted an offer for bad light on the third afternoon when his side were 143 runs ahead with eight second innings wickets intact.

The subsequent loss of 37 overs meant the chances of a positive result either way on the final day were slim and Sussex duly protected their position by batting on until ten minutes before tea, closing their second innings on 302-5 and setting Surrey a notional target of 377 in 34 overs.

By then Saqlain Mushtaq and Ian Salisbury were staging a protest of their own by bowling seam-up instead of spin and a number of spectators - mostly Surrey supporters it has to be said - started a slow handclap. Others headed for the beach.

Surrey closed on 114-1 and their lead at the top is now just four points. The real beneficiaries of the stalemate were third-placed Lancashire who improved their prospects with a comfortable win over Leicestershire.

Adams was unrepentant afterwards and is convinced that, if nothing else, Surrey are now aware that Sussex will not be shaken off easily.

"They would have expected to come here and dominate us, even though we are second, but we have gone at them hard and dominated them for four days," he said.

"On Saturday morning they came at us again and there were a lot of verbals flying around but I take that as a good sign.

"Normally when Surrey play us they have been relaxed because they know at some stage over the four days they will win the game. But on Saturday they got in our faces and tried to unsettle us but that to me is a moral victory for us.

"It shows to them that we are breathing down their necks and prepared to compete with them although that has been the case for our last few games to be honest."

According to their captain, Sussex did not miss their chance to win when they came off for bad light on Friday. Their opportunity went when they allowed Surrey to escape from 126-6 and make 355 in their first innings.

The champions' nine, ten and jack have now garnered ten batting bonus points between them in the last four games, a contribution which could prove crucial at the end of the season.

"They have 11 internationals and are a quality side and they showed that in the way they clawed things back," he added. "The fact that they have got such depth in batting saved them from losing the game.

"People who criticise us for coming off on Friday don't understand the game I'm afraid.

"We could have carried on in pretty ordinary light but people forget we are facing some of the best bowlers in world cricket, never mind county cricket. If we had lost four or five wickets in the final session and the game we would have been accused of throwing it away.

"Even on Saturday I had people coming up to me saying all we had to do was play a few shots and set them a target but you don't just do that against a world-class attack."

With only four points between them and five matches still to play it is unlikely that Sussex's decision to hold what they had will be the difference between the title coming to Hove for the first time or not.

The county take a break from Championship action this week before Lancashire head to Hove on Thursday week. The sides meet again in September at Old Trafford and Surrey also have to go to Manchester.

But Surrey appear to have the easier run-in with three games against the current bottom four and the impression remains that it is still their title to lose.

"It's still very tight but I think we have performed brilliantly over the four days and definitely given Surrey something to think about," said Adams.

After three days of cut-and-thrust which would not have disgraced the Test match arena, the finale may have been a letdown but Matt Prior and Tim Ambrose will always remember it.

When the declaration came they walked off to receive their county caps from Adams in front of the dressing rooms. Ambrose made an attractive eighth half-century of the season and Prior an unbeaten 50 off 49 balls. Both accolades are fully deserved.

Earlier, Surrey's hopes had briefly flickered when they removed Murray Goodwin, who needed pain-killers after dislocating his thumb, and Adams in the first hour. But Ambrose and Robin Martin-Jenkins calmed any Sussex nerves with a fifth wicket stand of 120.

Scores: Sussex 429 (Adams 107, Montgomerie 90, Goodwin 74) and 302-5 dec (Ambrose 76 not out, Prior 50 not out); Surrey 355 (Ramprakash 104, Saqlain Mushtaq 74, Mushtaq Ahmed 4-123) and 114-1 (Batty 65 not out). Sussex (12pts) drew with Surrey (11).