A three-wicket haul to Steve O'Keefe and quickfire half century to Nic Maddinson have put NSW in a strong position at stumps on day three of their Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland.
O'Keefe, Maddinson give NSW upper hand
Full scorecard
But outright victory may elude them after former Blues batsman Peter Forrest hit a valuable 97 to help Queensland past the follow-on mark to a total of 306.
NSW finished the day 1-111, holding an overall lead of 202, with Maddinson run out for 67 and first innings centurion Ryan Carters unbeaten on 38.
Maddinson signalled the Blues' intent when he attacked Nathan Hauritz (0-36), thumping the former Test spinner back over his head for consecutive sixes.
Earlier, fringe Australian one-day batsman Forrest thwarted his former teammates for 268 balls but fell desperately short of his ninth first class ton on Sunday.
O'Keefe (3-44) was the best performed bowler, grabbing the wickets of James Hopes (56) and Michael Neser (23), before rattling Forrest's stumps.
Paceman Doug Bollinger looked to back up his fiery spell from Saturday evening but was unable to add to his three overnight wickets.
The fiery left-armer did manage to hit Forrest with one particularly nasty bouncer, but the 28-year-old remained solid - though he did call for a replacement helmet – and ensured an outright Blues victory remained unlikely on the final day.
He added 48 with Chris Lynn (28), 50 with Chris Hartley (28) and 87 with captain Hopes. Forrest and Lynn looked in fine touch early on Sunday, and it took something special to break them up. Lynn slashed at a wide ball from Trent Copeland (1-61) and four runs seemed the likely option before Kurtis Patterson snared a stunning one-handed catch in the gully.
The Bulls are batting a man down following a knee injury to paceman Matthew Gale, who will miss up to ten weeks.