A fast-bowling blitz and four wickets from spinner Simon Harmer put the Warriors on the brink of victory over the Titans in their Sunfoil match in Port Elizabeth.
Andrew Birch, Basheeru-Deen Walters and Sisanda Magala combined to reduced the Titans to 48-5 as they fought to save the game after conceding 131 on the first innings.
Only No 7 batsman Heinrich Klaasen dug in to try to stop the rot, ending with an unbeaten 97, but he had little support until Morne Morkel (36) joined him for a ninth-wicket stand of 100 runs in 24 overs.
Morkel was finally undone by Harmer, who picked up four wickets in the innings for 63 and a match haul of 7-94, and the innings swiftly collapsed to 235. Klaasen was three runs short of his seventh first-class hundred, having faced 146 balls, with 10 fours and two sixes.
That left the Warriors with a target of 105, and at the close, they were 19 without loss.
The Cape Cobras face a long day of rear-guard action in Bloemfontein to stave off a second defeat when they ended day three on 127-2, still 317 behind the Knights.
Pite van Biljon (123) and Rudi Second (106) really piled on the pressure after the Knights had emerged with a 101-run lead after the first innings. They put on 203 for the fourth wicket in the second innings on Thursday which enabled the Knights to pile up 342 in the second innings and offer the Cobras a target of 444.
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