DIRECTOR of rugby Niall Crawford admired his Worcester players’ “sheer doggedness and determination” to come from behind to beat Droitwich 14-13 with the last kick of the Midlands One West clash.

Worcester were trailing 13-0 with less than 15 minutes left at the Glyn Mitchell Ground after Sam O’Brien crossed for Droitwich.

But the city side refused to give in as a penalty try sparked a late fightback.

Aron Middleton was then yellow carded, leaving Droitwich down to 14 men, before Chris Griffiths crossed in the final play of the game and Ollie Meadows held his nerve to land the match-winning conversion for Worcester.

“It was a very dramatic end to the game as it could not have gone more to the wire,” Crawford said.

“It was not a game I felt we were in control of so it was down to sheer doggedness and determination to not accept defeat.

“The guys were extremely pleased to have got one over their local rivals but also to have shown that they had the character to keep playing right up until the final whistle.

“It was a very attritional game so some of our guys were on their last legs but they kept going and came away with the justified result.”

Droitwich boss Adam Drew admitted it was “unacceptable” for his side who are two places above the drop zone to lose in the manner they did but confessed they got the game plan wrong in the closing moments.

“Credit to Worcester as they were better than us defensively and I thought they were one or two seconds faster than us across the park which was the difference between the two sides,” Drew said.

“I would say that we had 70 per cent of the territory and didn’t make the most of that.

“You have got to play rugby for 80 minutes and we didn’t. We had the wrong game plan in the last 10 or 15 minutes which ultimately cost us the victory.

“There were too many wrong decisions. We kicked away possession and they made ground. We then gave another penalty away, they kicked for touch, got within our 22 and the rest is history.

“In the last three or four minutes we don’t want to be kicking possession away, we want to be retaining it.

“To lose after being 13-0 up is unacceptable but to be fair to the lads they know we should have won it.

“For us to survive we need to be better at closing out games.”

OTHER RESULTS

Midlands One West: Dudley Kingswinford 15 Bromsgrove 19; Hereford 3 Whitchurch 10; Malvern 17 Stourbridge Lions 24.

Division Two West (South): Old Laurentians 22 Kidderminster Carolians 21; Silhillians 41 Evesham 22.

Division Three West (South): Ledbury 82 Upton 7.

Division Four West (South): Bromyard 20 Bedworth 17; Kings Norton 15 Greyhound 17; Pershore 26 Claverdon 32; Redditch 17 Burbage 60.

Division Five West (North): Bishops Castle & Onny Valley 7 Chaddesley Corbett 22; Tenbury 81 Dixonians 0.

SATURDAY'S FIXTURES

Midlands One West: Bromsgrove v Hereford; Droitwich v Dudley Kingswinford; Sutton Coldfield v Malvern; Worcester v Old Halesonians.

Division Two West (South): Evesham v Barkers Butts; Kidderminster Carolians v Rugby St Andrews.

Division Three West (South): Upton v Manor Park; Woodrush v Ledbury.

Division Four West (South): Claverdon v Redditch; Coventrians v Pershore; Greyhound v Old Wheatleyans.

Division Five West (North): Stourport v Tenbury.