Nottinghamshire put themselves in a position to force their first victory in nine Championship matches as struggling Yorkshire were made to struggle at Trent Bridge.

With Notts 29 points behind leaders Durham and having played a game more, Yorkshire were presented with a green wicket clearly designed to engineer a result.

And despite some defiance from Joe Sayers and Jonathan Bairstow, Notts worked their way steadily through the visiting batting line-up to leave Yorkshire at 220 for eight the close.

Sayers batted for just short of four hours to make 53, while Bairstow hit 10 fours in his 49, with Charlie Shreck (3-44) the pick of the home bowlers.

Asked to bat first on a pitch that presented a paradise for seamers, Yorkshire's openers Jacques Rudolph and Sayers battled through to lunch without losing a wicket, as the Nottinghamshire attack failed to consistently test the batsmen.

But it only took 10 balls after lunch for Darren Pattinson to remove the in-form Rudolph for 40, with the left-hander shouldering arms to a delivery that swung back to flatten off-stump.

Yorkshire skipper Anthony McGrath followed in the next over, edging Shreck to Mark Ealham at gully, before the first of three brief stoppages for rain.

Sayers survived two straightforward chances in consecutive overs on 37 and 40, with Scott Newman and Alex Hales the guilty parties.

Pattinson did pick up his second wicket of the day with Andrew Gale strangled down the leg-side, but it took another 15 overs before Sayers was eventually prised out for 53 by a full delivery from Paul Franks which knocked back off-stump.

The left-hander had looked far from convincing having faced 162 balls, with three of his seven boundaries coming through the slip cordon.

Gerard Brophy then handed Franks his second wicket in 10 deliveries, edging a lifting delivery to wicketkeeper Chris Read, but precocious youngster Bairstow showed no nerves at the precarious situation and looked slightly unfortunate to be given lbw to the veteran Ealham.

With heavy cloud cover and blustery conditions throughout the day, it was no surprise to see Notts take the new ball as soon as it became available.

It proved too much for Ajmal Shahzad, who followed an away-swinger from Shreck to provide Read with his third catch of the day, while Richard Pyrah was lbw soon after.

Tail-enders David Wainwright and Matthew Hoggard survived to the close but Notts will expect to be batting early on day two.