THIS was a fixture that Worcester Warriors should have won, particularly on home soil.

But Warriors could have few complaints about the 22-15 defeat to Zebre and their exit from the European Challenge Cup with one pool fixture remaining.

Perhaps there’s an acceptance at Sixways that Europe doesn’t really matter this season – and there is a much bigger picture to consider.

Clearly Aviva Premiership survival is Warriors’ main priority. It has to be.

But winning, like losing, becomes a habit and try saying the result doesn’t matter to punters who braved the cold conditions to witness such a disappointing Warriors display.

This was the perfect opportunity for Warriors to get back on track and restore some confidence after the agonising 32-22 last-gasp Aviva Premiership defeat at Wasps.

But Warriors couldn’t match Zebre’s hunger and have now lost nine successive matches at first-team level since toppling La Rochelle 19-3 in Europe on November 14.

The level of performance wasn’t good enough and perhaps this was reflected by head coach Carl Hogg’s arrival at the press conference 40 minutes after the finish.

Admittedly, Zebre had plenty of experience and were skippered by Marco Bortolami but the home line-up contained such talent as Andy Symons and Ben Howard.

Zebre offered a limited, yet productive, game-plan and Warriors’ front row had few answers to the power of the Italian side’s scrum.

The hosts conceded too many set-piece penalties and their ill-discipline yielded a yellow card in each half for Huw Taylor and Darren O’Shea.

There were flashes of brilliance from Warriors with scrum-half Luke Baldwin capping his first start with a well-taken try and an incisive break from skipper Alex Grove setting up Dean Hammond’s late score.

Full-back Howard showed plenty of will to run with the ball and tried to spark Warriors’ back-line into life.

But there were times when Warriors were crying out for accuracy, particularly in the early stages when Ben Sowrey’s line-out throws went astray in promising attacking situations.

Hooker Sowrey was dynamic in the loose and the return to action of Andy Short is a timely boost for Warriors.

Worcester made a lively start but made a hash of two attacking line-outs before Ulrich Beyers fired Zebre ahead with a long-range penalty.

It got better for the visitors when wing Kayle Van Zyl scooted over in the corner and Kelly Haimona converted.

Warriors responded through Baldwin, who sprinted down the blindside to touch down and Symons slotted the difficult conversion.

With Warriors’ penalty count growing, Taylor was sin-binned for an offence at the breakdown and Haimona’s three-pointer stretched the Italians’ lead before Beyers missed another from distance.

Zebre were reduced to 14 men when wing Dion Berryman stretched out a leg to try to trip returning fly-half Tiff Eden.

Trailing 13-7 at the interval, Symons’ early second-half penalty cut Zebre’s lead and Hammond missed an opening after dropping an inside pass from the strong-running centre.

Replacement Edoardo Padovani notched a three-pointer for Zebre before replacement Jean Cook appeared to be wrongly yellow-carded for an offence at the breakdown.

Padovani, who should have been shown the yellow card, missed a shot at the posts and O’Shea was sent from the field for a tackle. Padovani's penalty stretched Zebre's lead to 19-10.

With four minutes remaining, Hammond’s try, after Grove’s superb break, gave Warriors renewed hope but Symons was off-target with a routine conversion.

But Zebre used their experience to run down the clock. They won a scrum penalty in the last play of the match and Padovani’s three-pointer compounded Worcester’s frustration.