Sussex slipped to their second County Championship defeat of the season as they lost by 79 runs to Middlesex at Hove.

Mike Yardy gave Sussex hope of chasing down a target of 287 with a battling half century but they collapsed from 92-1 to 207 all out.

Neil Dexter swung the game in Middlesex’s favour by picking up four wickets before tea after the visitors had been bowled out for 209 in the morning.

The result sees Middlesex consolidate their position at the top of division one with Sussex dropping to third.

Yardy had raised hopes of an unlikely victory as he put on 46 for the first two wickets with Chris Nash and Matt Machan.

Nash went for 22 when he edged Toby Roland-Jones to Ollie Rayner at second slip but it was the introduction of Dexter which proved the pivotal moment.

The medium pacer had Machan caught at mid-on for 29 with his second ball and then removed skipper Ed Joyce for a duck in his next over.

Craig Cachopa’s disappointing start to the season continued as he was bowled by Steven Finn for 18 before Dexter produced a beauty to clip Luke Wright’s off stump and then had Yardy caught behind for 52 from the last ball before tea.

Ben Brown and Ollie Robinson threw the bat with some success as Sussex moved within 100 of their target.

But Brown top edged a slog off Finn to be caught by Rayner for 29 and Sussex’s hopes faded further when Robinson became the England bowlers third victim.

Steve Magoffin fell to Rayner for 10 and victory was wrapped up when Ajmal Shahzad was caught behind to give Finn figures of 4-51.

Earlier, Middlesex stretched their lead from 203 overnight to 286 as they were bowled out for 209 in their second innings.

Magoffin picked up the wickets of Finn and John Simpson to finish with match figures of 7-110 while Ollie Robinson removed Ollie Rayner to claim 8-108.