Head Coach Richard Hill was pleased to see his Warriors end along wait for an away league victory as they edged out Plymouth Albion – but admitted his team had made hard work of the job in Devon.
Warriors chalked up a first league success on their travels since April 2009 against Gloucester – after going the whole of last season without away day joy.
Hill admitted he could sense the pressure on his players to deliver against a fired-up Albion side keen to impress after being thrashed by Bedford in the Championship a week earlier.
However, he pinpointed a lack of composure as the key problem as Warriors were indebted to a hat-trick from Miles Benjamin and the boot of Andy Goode in the latter stages.
“It was a hard game but we made hard work of it,” said Hill. “I could sense the pressure. The side has not won away from home in the league for some time and you could feel that.
“The players who were trying to score too early, we needed more patience and more composure and to earn the right to go wide in attack.
“We certainly made heavy weather of it, although that is slightly unfair to Plymouth who, after their 50-point thrashing last week, really fronted up today.
“They were a completely different side to the team last week, Graham Dawe had them fired up and they deserved their bonus point. They tackled their hearts out and their physicality in defence and willingness to tackle with our lack of finishing made a tight game in the end.
“The first half we let go of the ball after a few phases and it took a while before we went forward,” he added.
“There were one or two comments from the crowd, which I accept, that it was like watching Worcester last year in terms of us going side to side. We had lots of possession but were not actually going too far forward.
“Plymouth’s defence was going side to side and shuffling us towards the touch lines and waiting for us to make mistakes, which we did.
“The second half we made sure we got more go forward. Plymouth were physically good in defence and it took a bit of brute force with the forwards doing the damage before we gave it to the backs. It was a lesson learnt.
“I know people will ask how I rated it and think I am hovering on four out of ten,” finished Hill. “I’m delighted to win, but I wouldn’t say that was an improvement on last week. Next week against Rotherham we need to raise the bar.