YORKSHIRE were given a taste of their own medicine yesterday as Somerset piled the pressure on the champions to leave their title hopes hanging in the balance.

The White Rose county are heading for a rare Specsavers County Championship defeat, one which would come at the most inopportune of times.

A loss, which could well come during today’s third day, would leave them sweating on leaders Middlesex’s ongoing match against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford.

A win for the Lord’s based county would leave Yorkshire with a mountainous task ahead of next week’s final round clash between the two at the Home of Cricket.

Some Lancashire resistance in a draw would keep Yorkshire hopes alive.

Yorkshire will head into today at 57-3 in their second innings, trailing by 188 after conceding a first-innings lead of 245 shortly after tea on day two.

Somerset, bowled out for 390, were thankful to half-centuries for Marcus Trescothick, Chris Rogers, Jim Allenby and Lewis Gregory, who made a career best 73 not out.

The hosts were far from their best with the ball. They built pressure at stages, but not often enough.

Ryan Sidebottom was the standout bowler with 5-51, his first five-wicket haul of the season, and he helped reduce the visitors from 123-1 to 164-4 before lunch.

He also contributed as they slipped to 257-6 in the early stages of the afternoon.

But every time Yorkshire looked like gaining a foothold, Somerset responded well, most notably through the majority of the afternoon when Gregory and Craig Overton shared 101 for the seventh wicket to take the lead beyond 200.

They found a way - and that is something Yorkshire have done regularly over the last three years.

"It's nice to take five-fors, but I'm not happy because in this situation, we didn't have enough balls in the right area,” admitted Sidebottom.

"Going into this game we were pretty confident, but to score 145 in the first innings on a pretty decent pitch is not ideal. You're always chasing your tail.

“Then, as a bowling unit, we didn't put enough pressure on their batters. They got away from us.

"We are behind the eight-ball, but that's the way it goes. You win some, you lose some. We've been in the ascendency quite a lot this year. We're still second, and anything can happen. We'll have to wait and see.

"We've always bowled well as a unit, but we didn't really do that.”

Sidebottom was exceptional, starting with two wickets in the 33rd over during the morning. He had former Australia Test batsman Rogers caught at second slip and James Hildreth bowled with a vicious in-swinger, which he left alone as the score fell to 125-3.

That later became 164-4, but Allenby and Peter Trego (46) shared 64 for the fifth wicket either side of lunch to start Yorkshire’s two sessions of frustration.

Gregory and Overton later made the vital contribution with their 101 stand, which looks to have put the game beyond Yorkshire.

Unfortunately, after Sidebottom wrapped up the innings after tea with two of the last three wickets, Yorkshire’s day was about to get worse.

Gregory had Alex Lees caught at slip and Tim Groenewald bowled Gary Ballance and Andrew Gale, uprooting their off stumps.