Sussex opener Harry Finch batted through a tense morning session as his side looked to set a target at Hove.

Finch went to lunch on an unbeaten 38 as Sussex reached 154-6 on the third day of their Championship match against Gloucestershire, a lead of 116.

Resuming their second innings on 51-2, Finch and Stiaan van Zyl defied some testing bowling to put on 28 before van Zyl edged behind for 44 to reward Dan Worrall for an excellent spell.

Ryan Higgins picked up his seventh wicket of the match in the next over when he pinned Luke Wright lbw half-forward.

Sussex skipper Ben Brown (16) counter-attacked briefly until he inside-edged a ball from Matt Taylor on to leg stump and Michael Burgess (17) squandered a promising start when he was caught off the glove down the leg side to give Taylor a second wicket.

At that stage Sussex were only 98 ahead, but Finch and Ollie Robinson (10 not out) ensured no further alarms.

With heavy cloud cover and the the floodlights on, Sussex's seamers might fancy their chances of forcing a first win of the season if their batman can set a target of 200 or more.