WORCESTER Warriors fought back from the dead tonight to claim a remarkable 30-30 draw against Bristol and secure promotion back to the Aviva Premiership by just one aggregate point.

Warriors looked dead and buried as Bristol ran in three converted tries, during a 10-minute spell when winger Cooper Vuna was in the sin-bin, to lead 30-16.

But Warriors refused to accept defeat in the Championship play-off final second leg and were helped by their opponents going down to 13 men.

Worcester bagged a penalty try, converted by Ryan Lamb, with five minutes remaining and Jack Lam was sin-binned.

With 26 seconds left on the clock and after Bristol skipper Dwayne Peel also saw yellow, Chris Pennell scrambled over the line.

Lamb levelled the match on the night with the conversion to seal a pulsating 59-58 aggregate success for Warriors.

Worcester had won the first leg of the Championship final 29-28 at Ashton Gate last week.

They led 16-6 at the interval and were in the driving seat until Vuna’s yellow card in the 62nd minute appeared to change the game.

With Vuna off the field, Bristol scored tries through Lam, Jack Tovey and Matthew Morgan, which Nicky Robinson converted.

Earlier, Warriors made a bright start and took the lead in the seventh minute from Lamb’s penalty but Bristol hit back and spurned two shots at the posts.

The penalty count against Warriors mounted and Robinson rattled the post with a penalty attempt.

But Robinson made no mistake with another kick soon afterwards to level the score at 3-3.

Fine work at the breakdown from Sam Betty won Warriors a penalty and Lamb’s close-range effort put the hosts 6-3 ahead.

Warriors were penalised at a line-out and Robinson’s penalty sailed wide but he landed another one soon afterwards.

The hosts had a slice of good fortune, which led to their first try in the 31st minute.

Lamb’s chip through took a ricochet off a Bristol boot and fell to Pennell, who dived over.

Lamb’s conversion curled between the sticks and he slotted his third penalty to give Worcester a 16-6 advantage.

Robinson missed his third penalty before Lamb had a shot at the posts that drifted wide.

Bristol had the ascendancy at the beginning of the second period and Robinson’s penalty reduced Warriors’ lead to 16-9.

Worcester were reduced to 14 men when Vuna was shown a yellow card.

Bristol took advantage immediately with Lam burrowing over and Robinson’s conversion levelled the scores at 16-16.

They took a firm grip on the game with 10 minutes left when Tovey ran on to a break from David Lemi to dive over in the corner and Robinson’s conversion fired Bristol 23-16 ahead.

The visitors appeared to be cruising after another break from Lemi was finished under the posts by Morgan and Robinson converted.

But Warriors refused to lie down and somehow found an extra gear to score two converted tries in the dying minutes to clinch promotion to the Premiership at the first attempt after last season's relegation.

Worcester: Pennell; Biggs, Grove (Howard 74), Mills, Vuna; Lamb, Bruzulier; Ruskin (Bower 49), Creevy (Annett 68), Schonert (Rees 77), Percival, Thomas, Williams, Betty, van Velze. Not used: Senatore, Shillcock, Fatiaki.

Attendance: 12,024.