Sussex still have work to do if they are to avoid a potentially damaging Championship defeat by Surrey.

But they have given themselves a chance after Robin Martin-Jenkins led a spirited tail-end recovery to help them avoid the follow-on at The Oval.

The all-rounder scored an unbeaten 71 off 90 balls with 11 fours as Sussex’s last two wickets added 86 to take them to 328, a first-innings deficit of 127.

Jason Lewry then took his 600th first-class wicket but Mark Ramprakash passed 1,000 runs for the 18th time in his career and Surrey will resume on the final day with an overall lead of 204.

If Sussex had any hopes of getting close to first-innings parity they needed another big contribution from the reliable Murray Goodwin.

He duly lodged his eighth Championship half-century of the season from 118 balls with eight fours before he suffered the same fate as Mike Yardy on day two - run out by a direct hit from James Benning in the covers answering Ollie Rayner’s call for a high-risk single.

Nightwatchman Rayner held up Surrey for 28 overs and needed treatment after being struck on the forearm by Alex Tudor before Matt Nicholson extracted some bounce to find the edge. But Sussex rallied after lunch thanks to Carl Hopkinson and Rory Hamilton-Brown.

Hamilton-Brown was the more aggressive against his former county, hitting two straight sixes off Murtaza Hussain in his 39 as he shared a stand of 53 before he was strangled down the leg side by Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Sussex off-spinner’s only success of the day.

Another Surrey old boy, Andrew Hodd, lasted only six balls before he was caught behind driving ambitiounsly at Benning but Hopkinson and Martin-Jenkins dug in to put on 45 for the eighth wicket.

Hopkinson, who was dropped on 25, went to his fourth half-century of the season, from 101 balls, before playing on to Jade Dernbach in the third over with the new ball.

Sussex looked certain to be following on at that stage, but Corey Collymore showed his trademark fortitude with the bat to add a further 29 before he became the third run-out victim of the innings – rightly sent back by his partner attempting an ambitious second.

The follow-on mark was still 35 runs away when last man Lewry came in but the No.11 has scored crucial runs before this season and two cover drives off Dernbach would not have shamed batsmen much higher up the order.

Martin-Jenkins reached his fourth fifty of the season with his ninth boundary and Surrey had to bring back their spinners to end the fun when Lewry was caught behind pushing forward to off-spinner Hussain.

Surrey were in danger of squandering their advantage when their openers fell cheaply for the second time in the match.

Newman drove loosely at Martin-Jenkins and Lewry completed a good day when his late inswing pinned Walters. But Ramprakash and Jon Batty added an unbeaten 64 to set up an intriguing final day.