LANCASHIRE had a mountain to climb to avoid a third consecutive championship defeat today, thanks to Old Trafford old boy Jason Gallian.

The new Nottinghamshire captain, who was out for a duck in the first innings on Wednesday, gained his revenge with a battling unbeaten 120 yesterday.

It means that Notts resumed today on 289-9 with a lead of 329 - leaving Lancashire with a tough battle on a difficult pitch, which was inspected by the ECB's Harry Brind yesterday, although he decided to take no further action.

Gallian's century was greeted with warm applause from the Old Trafford crowd and the 27-year-old said: "It was really good to get that century. It's the first time I have been back here for a championship game and I thought it was important to do well. The crowd were very good, they gave me good applause."

Lancashire were back in the match when they reduced Notts to 66-4, despite having slumped to 141 all out to give the visitors a 40-run first innings lead.

But Gallian linked up first with young wicket keeper Chris Read in a battling fifth wicket stand, and then piled on the frustration for Lancashire as he guided the tail from 175-7 to 289-9.

Gary Keedy was the pick of the Lancashire bowlers, taking 4-65, but they were looking tired and frustrated by the evening session. "Peter Martin bowled well but maybe they have lost a bit of focus," said Gallian. "It could be that they were expecting things to happen and they didn't."

The big hope for Lancashire was that Gallian's response to a duck would be matched by skipper John Crawley, otherwise they could find themselves in deeper trouble at the wrong end of the championship table.

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