Nottinghamshire's title challenge in the LV County Championship suffered another setback with an eighth game without a win after a topsy-turvy run chase against Worcestershire at New Road.

Set 358 for victory in 74 overs, they finished on 351 for seven after both sides created opportunities to secure the win.

Steve Davies, approaching the end of his Worcestershire career after signing a three-year deal with Surrey, equalled a county record with six catches in the innings but crucially dropped Ali Brown when there were still 17 overs to bowl.

Brown was on 55 when the wicketkeeper failed to hold an edge off Imran Arif and he made the most of his let-off by re-igniting the run chase with captain Chris Read, taking 31 off two overs of left-arm spin from Moeen Ali.

Nottinghamshire were encouraged to keep going despite losing further wickets. Brown drove Gareth Andrew to mid-on after making 84 with 10 fours and two sixes and then Davies combined with Richard Jones to remove Mark Ealham,

Read, unbeaten with 70, and the big-hitting Andre Adams (29 not out) put on 53 from 34 balls but could not quite make 21 off the last over despite a bonus of four wides from Andrew's first delivery.

To take four points for a draw and move to within 29 of the leaders Durham - although having played a game more - was better than they might have expected when Davies held his first two catches in Andrew's third over.

Scott Newman, on loan from Surrey until end of the season, registered his fifth single-figure score in his last five innings and Mark Wagh was also out for a duck when he gloved a lifting delivery.

Undeterred by these setbacks, Nottinghamshire initially managed to balance the need to rebuild and maintain a good scoring rate.

Samit Patel posted a half-century with nine fours from 49 balls and Alex Hales marked his promotion to opener - a problem area throughout the summer - by completing his first 50 in the championship.

After putting on 79 in 15 overs, both players fell to Jones for 55, though not before Hales had featured in another half-century stand with Bilal Shafayat.

Nottinghamshire still required 208 on reaching tea at 150 for four but Shafayat was out soon after the interval, giving Davies his fifth dismissal in a row and Jones his fifth wicket in the match.

The two sides did well to sustain interest after losing precious time in he morning. Rain held up the resumption for 45 minutes and Vikram Solanki allowed Worcestershire's batsmen to carry on for 40 minutes before making his declaration at 242 for six.

Alexei Kervezee tried to speed things up with four boundaries in making 30 from 22 balls but the Dutch batsman was caught at mid-off, going for a big shot off Charlie Shreck.

Moeen, the quieter figure in a partnership of 53, stayed unbeaten with 84 after clipping eight fours from 136 balls in an innings which dragged Worcestershire out of trouble at 34 for four on the third afternoon.