EARBY-born Glen Chapple dragged Lancashire back into the Championship match at Sussex yesterday after acting-captain Stuart Law's decision to bowl first had threatened to backfire.

Chapple took two wickets in his first over but Sussex were cruising at 190 for three after their Zimbabwean opener Murray Goodwin shared stands of 84 with Chris Adams and 98 with Tim Ambrose.

Then Chapple returned from the Sea End after lunch and fired out both Ambrose and Goodwin in the space of three overs.

He ended with four for 61, his second best performance of the season, with Peter Martin and Chris Schofield teaming up to whittle out the last five Sussex wickets.

Schofield was making up for lost time as he continued his comeback from a nightmare 12 months by taking three for 21, his best figures for more than two years, following his match-winning innings in the floodlit National League game at Hove on Tuesday.

He has now vowed to help Lancashire avoid relegation in the last four weeks of the season.

It was only the second Championship appearance all season for the Littleborough leg-spinner and he said: "It's great to be back in the team. I have had to wait a long time in the second team since a couple of bad performances in one-day matches but there are still a few games left this year, so hopefully I can have a bit of a run now."

Manager Mike Watkinson was delighted by Schofield's performance after taking a risk by including him as a second spinner, which meant leaving out the unlucky Kyle Hogg.

"We went for Schoey partly because he strengthens our batting, and he's bowled really well," said Watkinson, who was especially pleased by the control Schofield showed in taking three of the last four wickets in a nine-over spell which cost only 14 runs.

Martin, who had looked understandably rusty with the new ball in his first Championship game after a month out with a cracked rib, came back superbly to earn three for 45 from 22 overs with 10 maidens.

After losing their last seven wickets for only 50 runs, Sussex then handed Lancashire a flying start in their reply with left-arm seamer Jason Lewry conceding 12 extras in his first over.

Alec Swann suffered a rare failure when he was trapped lbw by Robin Martin-Jenkins but Mark Chilton and David Byas resumed today on 116 for one, only 124 runs behind.