THE relief that greeted the final whistle was palpable as Warriors picked up their first win of the season at the 10th time of asking.

Dean Ryan’s men were able to celebrate a much-needed victory as they saw off a youthful Cardiff Blues side in the LV= Cup, but they still managed to put their fans through the mill with a tense finale.

First-half tries from Rob O’Donnell, debutant James Stephenson and Max Stelling suggested the visitors would cruise to victory against a home side missing a total of 20 players to injury and international call-ups.

However, several enforced changes at the break disrupted Ryan’s plans and the Blues capitalised by taking charge in the second-half and, in the final minutes, Worcester were desperately hanging on.

After seven Aviva Premiership losses on the bounce, plus one in the Amlin Challenge Cup and a draw at Oynonnax, the Sixways side hung on to beat former Worcester forwards coach Phil Davies’ Blues and Ryan will now look to build his team’s fragile confidence.

Warriors made a lively start and should have taken the lead in the fourth minute, but Ignacio Mieres hit the left-hand upright with an effort from the 10-metre line. However, the hosts fought back and moved ahead with two penalites from fly-half Gareth Davies.

The first try of the game went to Worcester, though, and it was a well-worked score. Ben Howard and Mieres both made half-breaks, with the later off-loading to Abbott, who burst clear, before off-loading for rampaging tighthead O’Donnell to gallop over. Mieres added the extras for a 7-6 lead.

O’Donnell and Abbot were again to the fore as Warriors crossed a second time, setting the platform for Paul Hodgson to pop a cute pass to Stephenson, who showed superb footwork to dance through a tiny gap and coast over to give Mieres a simple conversion.

Impressive centre Stelling was next to score for Worcester as he cut a superb line to breach the Blues’ defences, round full-back Dan Fish and touch down to set up the easy two points.

The tide began to turn in first-half stoppage time when Chris Jones was then sin-binned for the second match in a row as he dragged a maul down inside the 22.

Paul Warwick came on at full-back for Stephenson, who suffered a knock to his hip, with Howard switching to the wing and Jones was unable to return from the bin due to concussion symptoms.

Cardiff grabbed a foothold in the match when flanker Thomas Young pounced to score beneath the posts, with Humberstone’s conversion making it 21-13 and the fly-half added a 65th-minute penalty to bring Blues to within a score.

Despite the hosts piling on the pressure in the closing minutes, Warriors were able to hold on for what could be an important, pressure-relieving victory.