WORCESTER Warriors were made to pay for a slow start as Gloucester condemned their local rivals to a fourth successive Aviva Premiership defeat, losing 24-19.

But a late revival, triggered by two Perry Humphreys tries, ensured they did not leave Kingsholm empty-handed.

Ryan Mills, back from injury, made amends for two missed conversions with an 74th-minute penalty to secure Worcester’s first point of the season thanks to a losing bonus.

Warriors pushed for a match-winning try at the death but Gloucester held firm to reclaim the bragging rights.

Worcester captain Donncha O’Callaghan was sin-binned early on for holding on as Gloucester closed in on the try line.

Mills was penalised for not rolling away and Billy Burns landed the penalty.

Gloucester then stepped up another gear and Warriors had no answers.

Jason Woodward gathered Burns’ long pass before popping the ball out of the back of his hand to Ollie Thorley who finished with ease and Burns converted.

Moments later Thorley had a try ruled out as Bryce Heem just did enough to stop him from getting on the end of Burns’ grubber kick.

But the wing got his second on 17 minutes.

Billy Twelvetrees tore through Warriors’ defence, skipping past Jack Singleton. He then set up Freddie Clarke who fed Thorley to go over.

Burns added the extras to give Gloucester a 17-0 lead and left Warriors with it all to do.

But the visitors responded well as they went on the attack before earning a penalty which Mills dispatched from close range.

Flanker Sam Lewis was forced off which saw an early introduction for fit-again David Denton.

Warriors cut back the deficit to 17-6 with another penalty from Mills two minutes before the interval.

But hopes of a comeback suffered a huge setback at the start of the second half as Gloucester came flying out of the traps.

Replacement Henry Trinder linked up with Willi Heinz before Twelvetrees went in under the posts, setting up a simple conversion for Burns. Worcester were forced into another change as Pierce Phillips pulled up clutching his thigh after a lung-busting run and he had to be replaced by Christian Scotland-Williamson.

After getting into good positions, inaccuracy, handling errors and ill-discipline from Worcester allowed Gloucester to clear their lines.

But Warriors’ desire never wavered and they were rewarded on the hour.

Mills’ cross-field kick was brilliantly gathered by Humphreys who managed to crawl over the try line.

But Mills kicked the conversion narrowly wide.

Humphreys scored a second unconverted try in the corner on 71 minutes after Warriors recycled the ball when Josh Adams hesitated after being put through by Gerrit-Jan van Velze.

Mills kicked a 74th-minute penalty to earn Worcester a losing bonus point.

Warriors: Adams, Humphreys, Willison, Te’o, Heem; Mills, Stringer; Bower, Singleton, Alo, O’Callaghan (c), Phillips, Faosiliva, Lewis, van Velze. Replacements: Taufete’e, Waller, Milasinovich, Scotland-Williamson, Denton, Kitto, Shillcock, Hammond.

Attendance: 12,430.