Acting captain Murray Goodwin held Sussex's top order together but they still have work to do to save the Championship game against Lancashire in Liverpool.
The county closed day three on 151-3, still 78 runs behind after Lancashire had earlier been dismissed for 472 in their first innings.
Goodwin, who made a duck in the first innings, came in after openers Chris Nash (43) and Ed Joyce (15) had fallen in successive overs.
He put on 36 with Luke Wells before Wells became the second victim for left-arm spinner Gary Keedy, who bowled 16 unchanged overs in the final session.
Goodwin and Joe Gatting then saw Sussex through to stumps with an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 46.
Earlier Monty Panesar finished with 4-105 from 47 overs and Amjad Khan picked up the last two wickets of the Lancashire innings to take 3-94.
But five Lancashire batsmen passed 50 with Steven Croft (64), Tom Smith (60) and Gareth Cross (63) all prospering on the third day.
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