Derbyshire 245 and 43 for 3 trail Leicestershire 297 (Horton 88, Palladino 4-64) by nine runs
Scorecard
Tony Palladino led a Derbyshire fightback before Leicestershire's bowlers regained control at the end of the second day of the day/night Division Two match at Derby.
The experienced seamer, who will be 35 on Friday, took 4 for 62 as Leicestershire slipped from 168 for 1 to 297 all out with skipper Paul Horton top scoring with 88. But the visitors exploited helpful bowling conditions under the County Ground lights to make early inroads as Derbyshire closed on 43 for 3, nine runs behind.
Leicestershire had looked set to take control of the game earlier in the day after losing only one wicket in the first session when just 72 runs were added in 31 overs. Palladino nipped one back to have Colin Ackermann lbw but Horton and Sam Evans, who replaced concussion victim Harry Dearden, established a solid platform only for it to be dismantled by disciplined pace and swing bowling.
In temperatures nudging 30 degrees, Derbyshire plugged away and after Duanne Olivier had Evans caught behind for 29, Hardus Viljoen found enough movement to have Horton lbw and then pinned Neil Dexter in front with the next ball.
Lewis Hill was perilously close to becoming the hat-trick victim but he was forced to leave the field briefly with a hand injury as Derbyshire's pace quartet cut through the lower order.
Ben Raine drove Palladino loosely to cover and when Hill resumed his innings, he was well caught off bat and pad at gully before Mark Cosgrove edged a drive at Olivier to slip. Palladino breached the defences of Gavin Griffiths and Richard Jones to reduce the visitors to 273 for 9 but Callum Parkinson and Mohammad Abbas stretched the lead to 52 which looked a lot more when Harvey Hosein was trapped on the crease by Abbas in the fourth over.
The pink ball was moving sharply under the floodlights and Ben Raine bowled Wayne Madsen with a beauty in the ninth over before Abbas found the shoulder of Ben Slater's bat and Jones took a fine diving catch running behind gully.
At 17 for 3 with 10 overs remaining, Derbyshire were in desperate trouble but skipper Billy Godleman and Alex Hughes hung on in testing conditions to give the home side some hope going into day three.
