Ben Slater and Liam Patterson-White made vital batting contributions as Nottinghamshire dug deep to earn a priceless three-wicket Rothesay County Championship victory over Worcestershire at New Road.
Chasing 136 on a bowler-friendly surface, Notts unearthed every last ounce of fight as Josh Tongue hit the winning runs just after lunch.
The Green and Golds struggled to 83-6 and against a fired-up home attack before the lower middle order stood tall to take them to 136-seven.
After Slater held the chase together early on with a resolute 36, Patterson-White made a vital 23.
Alongside Tongue, whose winning four was contained within an unbeaten 14, Lyndon James made 17 not out as the duo held their nerves when it mattered most.
The win now sets up a huge clash with champions and current leaders Surrey at the Kia Oval in the penultimate round of fixtures, which begins next week.
Notts resumed on the final morning on 40-1, needing another 96, and, to their delight, the rain and gloomy conditions that haunted much of this match was replaced by gorgeous sunshine.
However, when Freddie McCann lifted a pull to deep square leg to end a knock of 28, there was still work to be done.
Khurram Shahzad then trapped Joe Clarke lbw, a few Nottinghamshire nerves were jangling at 53-3, before two further scalps were taken by Ben Allison to leave Notts 73-5.
Slater had resisted with skill and patience for 148 minutes but was lured into driving at a wide one from Tom Taylor and nicked it to Gareth Roderick.
That necessitated a watchful end to the session from Academy graduate pair James and Patterson-White, but they did so carefully to ensure no further loss, with the visitors dining at 91-6.
Four quickfire fours from Patterson-White straight after the interval then put Notts back on the front foot at a very helpful time as the tension became palpable.
Patterson-White edged Allison to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick with 22 needed from the last three wickets.
However, James, completing his excellent all-round match in which he also returned match figures of 6/67, and Tongue saw their side to a potentially priceless victory.
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