DIRECTOR of rugby Niall Crawford says he is “relieved” to see his Worcester side heading in the right direction after chalking up back-to-back victories in Midlands One West.

Worcester backed up their 13-0 triumph at Stourbridge Lions with a 32-14 win over bottom club Longton at Weston’s Fields last Saturday.

Tries from Tom Dodge, Will Carroll, James Sinclair and Todd Stephens along with 12 points from the boot of Ollie Meadows saw the hosts come from 9-8 down to claim a comfortable victory.

“I felt relieved because two wins in a row doesn’t come by chance,” Crawford said.

“After one win and several losses you start to question yourself, but at least we can now say the last two games have been positive for us.

“We know we are on the right trajectory but if you want to get a run going it is easier to do that after two wins.

“One win could be a fluke but the victory last Saturday was well-deserved.

“We weren’t at our strongest but the players that played for us we all very competitive and focused and we had enough there to put a good score on Longton.”

Crawford reckoned his side’s impressive showing at Stourbridge the week before was a “turning point” in their season.

“That victory acted as a catapult as we are now able to say that we can compete against teams that are higher than us,” Crawford said.

“It gave the guys that a little bit more confidence so we know we just need to maintain our standards to beat teams that are slightly lower than us in the table.”

Eleventh-placed Worcester have climbed 11 points clear of Longton but now have a week off before visiting Sutton Coldfield on Saturday, November 17.

“This break will allow players to recharge their batteries,” Crawford added.

“We will then go into quite a hard run of games starting with Sutton who are riding high and then we can work towards playing Newbold just before Christmas.

“That will be a chance for us to pit ourselves against the top of the league at home and with a slightly stronger team.”