Yorkshire were yesterday forced to settle for their second LV County Championship draw against Somerset inside a month.

But captain Andrew Gale admitted he was happy with an eleven-point haul from their trip to Taunton, including maximum bonus points, after Somerset avoided the follow-on before lunch on day four in reply to a first-innings 450-5 declared.

The hosts began yesterday on 232-6, and whether or not they could reach the follow-on target of 301 was going to be key to the match's outcome, having had the first day washed out without a ball bowled.

They managed to do it with eight wickets down, thanks in the main to James Hildreth's 115 off 174 balls, his first century of the season.

Contributions of 32 and 14 from lower-order colleagues Craig Meschede and George Dockrell were also key as the contest went the same way as it had done at Headingley at the start of May.

Moin Ashraf took his first three wickets of the season as Somerset were bowled out for 310 before the hosts enjoyed their best spell of the match by reducing Yorkshire to 21-3 in their second innings just after lunch.

Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance shared 70 inside 26 overs for the fourth wicket, with Lyth finishing on 57 not out in 104-4 declared.

"It was always going to be difficult to force a result at Taunton, but to take eleven points away gives us a lot of confidence," said Gale.

"I thought we probably had a bad 45 minutes when we lost three quick wickets after lunch, but throughout the three days that was the only period that we lost.

"I thought we bowled well in the morning. We took four wickets in the session on a fairly tame pitch.

"There's no hidden formula in how we're playing, we're just doing the basics well. If we continue to do that, we'll be well placed come the end of the season."

Hildreth and Meschede, who came together during the evening session of day three, shared 100 for the seventh wicket, then Hildreth and Dockrell added 26 for the eighth to advance the score from 272-7 after Steve Patterson got Meschede.

When Ashraf yorked Hildreth with three runs still needed to reach 301, there was still a flicker of hope for Yorkshire, but a Dockrell boundary ensured his side a draw.

Ashraf later forced Dockrell to chop on and had Steve Kirby caught at first slip by Ballance.

Joe Sayers, Phil Jaques and Gale then all fell cheaply in Yorkshire's second innings. Kirby had Sayers caught at second slip and Jaques lbw offering no shot for a second-ball duck before Peter Trego trapped Gale lbw.

Yorkshire's next Championship match is against Nottinghamshire at Scarborough, starting on Wednesday.

Before that, however, they face Gloucestershire at Headingley tomorrow in a Yorkshire Bank 40 match they realistically have to win to keep their hopes of reaching the semi-finals alive. They have lost three of their first four fixtures.

Ryan Sidebottom and Patterson will both be rested, while 19-year-old seamer Ben Coad is in contention to debut.

"We've been poor, if we're being honest, in the YB40, and most probably we are going to have to win every game to have a chance of qualifying," said Gale.