WORCESTER Warriors' incredible losing run to Wasps continued as a second-half fightback came up short in their 13-17 Premiership defeat at home to Wasps.

It was a ninth consecutive loss in all competitions for Warriors and a seventh straight in the league, a run stretching back to the opening day of the season against London Irish.

Worcester haven't beaten Wasps since 2013 and it looked nailed on for that run to continue as Wasps scored two first-half tries to essentially seal the win.

Warriors' Jamie Shillcock opened the scoring early on with a penalty but tries from James Gaskell on 16 minutes and Tom Willis just before half-time proved decisive.

An opportunists try from Warriors' Nick David brought the hosts back into it on the hour mark before a Shillcock penalty reduced the deficit to just four points with 12 minutes left.

But the visitors held on to celebrate yet another win over their Midlands rivals Worcester.

The game was played in difficult conditions with the rain coming down amidst a swirling wind and both sides struggled with the slippery ball as handling errors were frequent.

Shillcock, who was starting his first game in almost a year due to the injuries to Billy Searle and Duncan Weir, slotted a penalty on 11 minutes to put the hosts ahead.

Despite having a lot of ball in Wasps' territory, Worcester were struggling to do much with it before they found themselves behind thanks to Gaskell's try from short range.

A missed penalty from Shillcock could have reduced the lead to one but the post stood in his way as the ball cannoned back off the upright.

With a few minutes left of the half Wasps' danger man Malakai Fekitoa showed his quality when getting ou the outside of the Warriors defence to set up Willis to cross after some sloppy tackling efforts.

A 14-3 lead for the away side at the break and it looked like another routine defeat for the Warriors, especially when Wasps' Charlie Atkinson kicked a penalty to extend the lead to 14.

But the home side fronted up and substitute Michael Heaney turned the game in Worcester's favour on 60 minutes when his football skills enabled him to hack through to the try line before popping it up to David, who crossed under the posts.

The conversion and another penalty from Shillcock had the lead cut to four and with their tails up, Warriors threatened a remarkable win.

They even had a lineout five metres out towards the end of the game but an unsuccessful driving maul and a penalty from the resulting scrum ended the contest.