Yorkshire's Jonny Bairstow has called on his side to show their battling qualities on the final day against Somerset.

The Tykes lost three late wickets at Taunton to put themselves into a difficult position.

Things appeared to be going their way for long parts, until Joe Root, Gary Ballance and Steve Patterson all fell in the last seven overs to leave them on 249 for six at the close - a lead of just 155 runs.

"To lose those wickets was obviously unfortunate," admitted Bairstow, who is on 80 go to with his knock of 136 from the first-innings.

"We have to come back and fight hard though. Every wicket is important and we are looking forward to the challenge.

"Who knows what the rest of this match will hold? But we still have lots of batting to come and we are by no means out of this game."

This might be the case, but for most of the day it looked like Yorkshire would be heading into day four holding all the cards.

A spirited bowling display saw them dismiss Somerset for 452, with Adil Rashid ending with four wickets, before the Tykes top order quickly set about rebalancing the first-innings deficit of 94.

Adam Lyth, 14, and Anthony McGrath, four, were ousted early, but captain Andrew Gale soon joined Root at the crease to haul the Tykes back into the contest.

By the time the partnership was broken, when Gale was trapped lbw by Peter Trego for 50, the Tykes were building a lead at 117 for three.

This optimism continued to grow with Bairstow now in the middle with Root, as the youngsters serenely added 107 runs for the fourth wicket to put Yorkshire in control - a lead of 130, with seven wickets in hand.

But Root was clean bowled by Lewis Gregory to provide the catalyst for the collapse that could yet be so costly.

His disappointment as he trudged off for 67 was obvious to see, with a maiden first-class century looking possible, but what followed was much worse for his team in a later than expected close thanks to early morning rain.

Part-time spinner Arul Suppiah did the damage - with two wickets in three balls to remove Ballance, for seven, and Patterson, for nought.

SCORECARD

Somerset v Yorkshire
At Taunton.
Overnight: Yorkshire 358 (J M Bairstow 136,
G S Ballance 61). Somerset389-6 (M E
Trescothick 189, A V Suppiah 95).
Somerset First Innings
J C Hildreth c Bairstow b A U Rashid 87
L Gregory b Sidebottom 17
G Hussain c Bairstow b H-Dalby 4
S P Kirby lbw b A U Rashid 6
C M Willoughby not out 0
Extras (b9 lb8 w4 nb12 pens 0) 33
Total (119.2 overs) 452
Fall: 1-257 2-272 3-301 4-343 5-343 6-366
7-394 8-422 9-448
Bowling: Shahzad 21-1-92-1. Sidebottom
27-4-66-3. Patterson 26-4-69-1. Hannon-
Dalby 23-2-91-1. A U Rashid 19.2-3-100-4.
Root 3-0-17-0.
Yorkshire Second Innings Close
A Lyth c Buttler b Hussain 14
J E Root b Gregory 67
A McGrath lbw b Kirby 4
A W Gale lbw b Trego 50
J M Bairstow not out 80
G S Ballance c Trescothick b Suppiah 7
S A Patterson lbw b Suppiah 0
A U Rashid not out 0
Extras (b6 lb17 w2 nb2 pens 0) 27
Total 6 wkts (63.2 overs) 249
Fall: 1-37 2-46 3-117 4-224 5-245 6-245
To Bat: R J Sidebottom, A Shahzad, O J
Hannon-Dalby.
Bowling: Willoughby 14.2-0-48-0. Kirby 12-
2-57-1. Hussain 13-2-54-1. Trego 8-1-21-
1. Suppiah 11-2-22-2. Gregory 5-0-24-1.