ALISTAIR Murdoch is convinced Worcester Rugby Club will bounce back from their first league defeat of the season but admitted the loss was a set-back in their race for honours.

The Sixways skipper was one of a host of players to disappoint at Bournbrook and held his hands up to the poor display after the match.

He said: "We put a lot of pressure on Moseley in the second half but unfortunately that's when we needed to be controlled and then made a lot of errors.

"We just couldn't score enough points to peg them back."

Murdoch said that although Worcester played badly against Birmingham & Solihull last week and still managed to grind out a result, the Sixways stars could not get away with another below par performance against Moseley.

"Last week as not a good performance and when you win you perhaps think the display was not quite as bad as it was.

"The week before that, however, we were very good against London Welsh so I think it was just another bad performance today.

"We managed to get away with it against Birmingham but we got punished today and Moseley punished us well."

Worcester had hoped that London Welsh could do them a favour when they faced second-placed Leeds Tykes at Old Deer Park. However as the Worcester players trudged off the Bournbrook pitch to the screams of delight from the Moseley faithful, news filtered through of the Yorkshire side's 35-12 victory which cuts Worcester's lead at the top to just six points (check table MD).

Murdoch added: "Leeds are going great guns at the moment and obviously the pressure comes back on us.

"We've got to start winning and winning with bonus points. Leeds are the form side at the moment - there's no argument about that and we've got to start playing well and putting teams away."

The former New South Wales man believed the defeat, however, could be just what the side needed to remove any thoughts of complacency.

"It's very important how you react to a loss. You've got to come out and start stringing wins together straight away.

"We have to react well. We've got some tough games coming up with London Welsh next on Saturday."