Sussex are breathing a bit easier in the Championship after winning what coach Mark Robinson described as their “cup final.”

An unbeaten 100 from Chris Nash steered the county to their first Championship win at Hove since the title-clincher against the same opponents in 2007.

Robinson said: “We targeted the game as our cup final and wanted to play with intensity.

“We needed to win so we left more grass on the wicket to try to get a result. Our bowlers kept the pressure on at both ends and we got our just rewards.

“When it was humid the ball swung and Matt Mason exploited that really well for Worcestershire. At times we weren’t at our best with the bat but we hung in there and sometimes you need to do that because you can’t play your best cricket all the time.”

The only disappointment was the loss of a point for a slow over rate, the first time Sussex have incurred this penalty since its introduction.

The value of this victory will become apparent after the current round of matches finish today. While their second win over Worcestershire this season has given them some breathing space it does not look as Sussex will survive on two wins as they did in 2008 but it will do for now.

It was achieved in a manner which did not seem likely at lunch. When Corey Collymore took two wickets in successive overs to follow up Yasir Arafat’s removal of Moeen Ali in the second over of the day Worcestershire were 101-7 and leading by just 77.

But for the second time in the match their lower order made merry with 125 added in just 17 overs after their last three wickets put on 94 in the first innings.

Arafat and Luke Wright, hitherto so exemplary in their control of line and length, discovered there was a harsh penalty to be paid for dropping short as Mason and then Imran Arif began to deposit the ball all too frequently in areas where there were no fielders.

Mike Yardy belatedly brought on off-spinner Ollie Rayner who wrapped up the innings with Davies last out for 66 after he had shared punishing stands of 45 with Mason and 71 in just six overs with Arif.

Sussex supporters spent an uncomfortable lunchtime contemplating the worst when Yardy fell in the third over to give Mason his eighth wicket of the match as Sussex chased a target of 212 but Mason could only bowl four overs because of a sore heel and the rest of the Worcestershire seam attack proved as wayward as it had in the first innings.

Nash and Ed Joyce put on 109 before Joyce was caught trying to clear the mid-wicket boundary after scoring his first half-century at Hove since the opening game but Nash, dropped in the gully on 49 by Gareth Batty, accelerated to his second successive hundred at Hove which he reached with his 19th boundary from just 101 balls.

Just as encouragingly was the sight of Murray Goodwin playing with his old freedom for an unbeaten 40 which included successive boundaries to win the match after the umpires, who were leading the teams off for tea when only eight runs were needed, were persuaded to finish the game by the crowd.