A gritty unbeaten half-century from experienced NSW middle-order batsman Ben Rohrer has kept the Blues' hopes alive in their pivotal Sheffield Shield match against South Australia in Coffs Harbour.
Rohrer, NSW's last recognised batsman, helped his side to 5-178 at stumps on Saturday's third day and within 87 runs of victory.
Rohrer was unbeaten on 62 at the close, with Trent Copeland on seven.
Defeat for either third-placed South Australia or fourth-placed NSW would be a serious blow to their hopes of winning through to next month's Shield final.
The Blues made a poor start to their chase, slipping to 2-17 with the early loss of Daniel Hughes (1) and Kurtis Patterson (9).
There were solid contributions from Ed Cowan (31) and Nic Maddinson (27) only for the pair to fall in relatively quick succession.
Rohrer and wicketkeeper Ryan Carters, the top-scorer from the Blues' first innings, put on a day-three high of 59 before Daniel Worrall (1-53) made a crucial breakthrough.
But it was SA's Coffs Harbour-born Joe Mennie who did the most damage, taking 2-37 to lift his season haul to a competition-high tally of 37 wickets.
Earlier on Saturday, NSW fast bowler Copeland made the most of some cloud cover in snaring 5-62, and he was well supported by Sean Abbott (3-51) and Doug Bollinger (2-47).
The Redbacks, who started the day well placed at 1-64, missed the chance to set NSW a massive target by being bowled out for just 177.
SA's top four all made a start with captain Travis Head top-scoring with 44, before their last seven wickets tumbled for the addition of just 66 runs.
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