Marathon man Jack Shantry believes Worcestershire have "given ourselves a good chance" of pulling off a crucial victory in the LV = County Championship clash with Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
Worcestershire will resume this morning on 13-0, requiring another 311 runs to chalk up a second win of the campaign.
It was thanks largely to Shantry's efforts on what was officially the hottest ever July day in this country that the home side were dismissed for 366.
Shantry bowled 26.4 overs and returned figures of 4-40 to give him an overall analysis of 35.4-13-48-5 and take his LV = CC wicket tally for the summer to 39.
The lion-hearted left-armer told BBC Hereford-Worcester's Dave Bradley: "It was a hot day, but I thought the boys stuck at it really well. The pitch on day three was probably the best day for batting.
"There was pace in the wicket on day one but it was a little bit flatter. It did a little bit, swung a little bit, but it was slow and a good day for batting.
"In those situations, you have to dig in and just try and be as economical as possible and then hopefully the wickets will come at some point which fortunately they did.
"It was an attritional day, good tough cricket, both teams stuck in there, no-one was willing to give an inch and they made us work hard for the wickets.
"But we stuck to it and even when people did get in we didn't get give them any rubbish balls."
As for his own superb efforts in the heat, Shantry said: "I was pretty tired afterwards but that's what I'm paid to do as Bumpy (Director of Cricket Steve Rhodes) frequently reminds us.
"You just have to get on with it. It's a hell of a job being a cricketer so I don't think we can moan too much.
"Leachy and Moz have been fantastic as well this season and Ed Barnard on day three had no luck. We all take our fair share and this time I bowled the bulk of the overs but on another day it will be another bowler."
Nottinghamshire batted in determined fashion right down the order and Shantry admitted: "We are finding out that in Division One teams are made of sterner stuff.
"In the past we had Saeed taking wickets for fun. Obviously this year, it's been a little bit tougher for all of us and that's all part of the learning curve."
As for their victory hopes, Shantry said: "We've given ourselves a good chance, it's a good pitch and if we can knock off these runs, it will be a fantastic win and a well deserved win.
"Is 300 gettable? Yes I do think so. With the pitch on day one, with the greeness of the pitch, it hasn't worn as much because if anything it was a little bit under-prepared.
"It will be a typical day four pitch at Trent Bridge. There wasn't a lot of spin for Saeed either.
"Obviously we still have got to worry about Samit (Patel) their spinner, but it won't be as potent as perhaps a four-day pitch on a different ground.
"It was great as well for our openers to get through unscathed with no wickets down, as much psycologically as anything else.
"I think we will go into the final day with Rich (Oliver), who is off the back of 99 in the first innings, and Mitch (Daryl Mitchell) who is not far away from a big score himself.
"If we start well, and one batsman scores a hundred and people bat around him, that could be enough and it will be great to see us get some more points."
