A tremendous piece of lower order batting from wicketkeeper Phil Mustard gave Durham the smallest of first innings leads as the County Champions scrambled towards respectability.
Mustard was unbeaten on 63 when Mark Davies was the last man out, bowled by Chris Whelan - his third half century in the Championship this season - and he managed the tail perfectly to monopolise the strike.
There are few batsman more exciting to watch than The Colonel when he goes on the offensive in games like these and some of his shots were spell-binding, cutting, pulling and driving the ball to the boundary much to the delight of an increasingly vocal home support.
Given Durham had been reduced to 59-6 before lunch and were still 53 runs behind Worcestershire's 193 when Callum Thorp was the eighth wicket to tumble, Mustard's knock was brilliantly constructed as he managed to attack while also protecting Mitch Claydon and Davies.
There has been a new found maturity in Mustard's batting this season and he fully deserved the standing ovation he received as he trotted back into the pavilion.
Nevertheless, while Durham will be relieved to have edged ahead of Worcestershire's total by the single run, that should not disguise the fact the collective performance with the bat hasn't been good enough.
Yes, Kabir Ali - who finished the innings with impressive figures of 6-68 - managed to find some vicious swing at times, but Durham's batting was a major disappointment. Only two of their specialist batsman - Kyle Coetzer and Dale Benkenstein - have posted double figure scores.
This is also the second time running they have been bowled out cheaply at the Riverside following a similar top order capitulation against Lancashire and it is a weakness which will end up being punished.
Whether Worcestershire have the batting power to do that in this game is debatable - they are without Vikram Solanki, Steven Davies and Stephen Moore who are on England Lions duty with Durham's Steve Harmison and Graham Onions - although it is something coach Geoff Cook needs to address.
We have been forced to take an early tea interval here after just one ball of Worcestershire's second innings as the thunder and lightening around the Riverside was thought to be a risk to the safety of the players.
