diff --git a/contributors.xml b/contributors.xml
index 2d6c632..8256daa 100644
--- a/contributors.xml
+++ b/contributors.xml
@@ -18,6 +18,18 @@
     <first>Kevin</first>
     <last>Jackson</last>
   </name>
+  <name>
+    <first>Matt</first>
+    <last>Benson</last>
+  </name>
+  <name>
+    <first>Paul</first>
+    <last>King</last>
+  </name>
+  <name>
+    <first>Peter</first>
+    <last>Reilly</last>
+  </name>
   <name>
     <first>Stefan</first>
     <last>Bodewig</last>
@@ -26,8 +38,4 @@
     <first>Steve</first>
     <last>Loughran</last>
   </name>
-  <name>
-    <first>Matt</first>
-    <last>Benson</last>
-  </name>
 </contributors>
diff --git a/docs/assertions.html b/docs/assertions.html
index e90d8b4..455661c 100644
--- a/docs/assertions.html
+++ b/docs/assertions.html
@@ -464,6 +464,64 @@
       &lt;assertReferenceIsType refid="classpath" type="path"/>
     </pre>
 
+    <h2><a name="assertMatches">assertMatches</a></h2>
+
+    <p>Asserts that a string matches a given regular expression.</p>
+
+    <table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
+        <tr>
+          <td valign="top"><b>Attribute</b></td>
+          <td valign="top"><b>Description</b></td>
+          <td align="center" valign="top"><b>Required</b></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td valign="top">string</td>
+          <td valign="top">The string to test.</td>
+          <td valign="top" align="center">Yes</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td valign="top">pattern</td>
+          <td valign="top">The pattern to test the string against.</td>
+          <td valign="top" align="center">Yes</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td valign="top">casesensitive</td>
+          <td valign="top">
+            Perform a case sensitive match.
+            Default is true.
+          </td>
+          <td align="center">No.</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td valign="top">multiline</td>
+          <td valign="top">
+          Perform a multi line match.
+          Default is false.
+          </td>
+          <td align="center">No.</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td valign="top">singleline</td>
+          <td valign="top">
+            This allows '.' to match new lines.
+            SingleLine is not to be confused with multiline,
+            SingleLine is a perl
+            regex term, it corresponds to dotall in java regex.
+            Default is false.
+          </td>
+          <td align="center">No.</td>
+        </tr>
+    </table>
+
+    <h3>Examples</h3>
+
+    <p>Make the build fail if the property abc does not contain
+      "abc" regardless of case:
+    </p>
+    <pre>
+      &lt;assertMatches string="${abc}" pattern="abc" 
+                     casesensitive="false"/></pre>
+
     <h2><a name="assertLogContains">assertLogContains</a></h2>
 
     <p>Asserts that the build log contains a given message.</p>
diff --git a/src/etc/testcases/assert.xml b/src/etc/testcases/assert.xml
index 214f0b6..1755f62 100644
--- a/src/etc/testcases/assert.xml
+++ b/src/etc/testcases/assert.xml
@@ -184,4 +184,10 @@ under the License.
     <path id="foo5"/>
     <au:assertReferenceIsType refid="foo5" type="fileset"/>
   </target>
+
+  <target name="assertMatches">
+    <au:assertMatches string="this is AbC"
+                      pattern="abc"
+                      casesensitive="false"/>
+  </target>
 </project>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/ant/antunit/antlib.xml b/src/main/org/apache/ant/antunit/antlib.xml
index 35516ee..fff8277 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/ant/antunit/antlib.xml
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/ant/antunit/antlib.xml
@@ -224,4 +224,22 @@ under the License.
     </sequential>
   </macrodef>
 
+  <macrodef name="assertMatches" backtrace="false">
+    <attribute name="string"/>
+    <attribute name="pattern"/>
+    <attribute name="casesensitive" default="false"/>
+    <attribute name="singleline" default="false"/>
+    <attribute name="multiline" default="false"/>
+    <attribute name="message"
+      default="Expected '@{string}' to match pattern '@{pattern}'"/>
+    <sequential>
+      <au:assertTrue message="@{message}">
+	<matches string="@{string}" pattern="@{pattern}"
+                 casesensitive="@{casesensitive}"
+                 singleline="@{singleline}"
+                 multiline="@{multiline}"/>
+      </au:assertTrue>
+    </sequential>
+  </macrodef>
+
 </antlib>
diff --git a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/ant/antunit/AssertTest.java b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/ant/antunit/AssertTest.java
index 94af651..5a2f786 100644
--- a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/ant/antunit/AssertTest.java
+++ b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/ant/antunit/AssertTest.java
@@ -138,6 +138,10 @@ public class AssertTest extends BuildFileTest {
                  "Expected reference 'foo5' to be a 'fileset'");
     }
 
+    public void testMatches() {
+        executeTarget("assertMatches");
+    }
+
     private void testPass(String target) {
         executeTarget(target);
     }
@@ -153,8 +157,16 @@ public class AssertTest extends BuildFileTest {
         } catch (AssertionFailedException e) {
             assertEquals(message, e.getMessage());
         } catch (Throwable t) {
-            fail("Unexpected exception of type " + t.getClass()
-                 + ", message '" + t.getMessage() + "'");
+            if (t.getClass().getName().equals(
+                    AssertionFailedException.class.getName())) {
+                // Some classloader issue!
+                assertEquals(message, t.getMessage());
+            } else {
+                fail("Unexpected exception of type " + t.getClass()
+                     + ", message '" + t.getMessage() + "'"
+                     + "\nexpected exception of type "
+                     + AssertionFailedException.class);
+            }
         } // end of try-catch
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/ant/antunit/ExpectFailureTest.java b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/ant/antunit/ExpectFailureTest.java
index ce0ae0e..8467448 100644
--- a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/ant/antunit/ExpectFailureTest.java
+++ b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/ant/antunit/ExpectFailureTest.java
@@ -61,7 +61,18 @@ public class ExpectFailureTest extends BuildFileTest {
             executeTarget(target);
             fail("Expected an exception");
         } catch (AssertionFailedException e) {
-            assertEquals(message, e.getMessage());
-        }
+             assertEquals(message, e.getMessage());
+        } catch (Throwable t) {
+           if (t.getClass().getName().equals(
+                    AssertionFailedException.class.getName())) {
+                // Some classloader issue!
+                assertEquals(message, t.getMessage());
+            } else {
+                fail("Unexpected exception of type " + t.getClass()
+                     + ", message '" + t.getMessage() + "'"
+                     + "\nexpected exception of type "
+                     + AssertionFailedException.class);
+            }
+         }
     }
 }