Head Coach Richard Hill pinpointed some of the attacking play by Warriors as reasons to be optimistic for the future after defeat at Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership.
Wing Josh Drauniniu capped a fine team move to score a first half try and back row Kai Horstmann also crashed over on his final game for the club.
But Hill was left rueing the decision to go for a third try midway through the second half as Saints pulled away in the final quarter of the top-flight clash to book a play-off place.
“We were under the pump for the first 20 minutes and when we went 7-0 down early it looked like it was going to be an extremely long afternoon,” he said.
“But, after the early score, I thought we defended well to keep them out and turned it around a bit in the second half.
“We played some good stuff and scored a fantastic try, we looked to do doing well until the sin bin. It was a rush of blood to the head by Shaun Perry and either side of half-time we then leaked 13 points. We went from 7-7 to 20-7 which was a blow.
“We recovered and came back to 23-14 and at that point we had them rattled, there is no doubt about that. They had a chance to kick for the corner and they went for the three points, you could see they just wanted to win the game.
“At 23-14 we also had a penalty in front of the posts and had to kick for goal to go 23-17, that would have really put the pressure on them, and we didn’t. We went for the line, lost the lineout and that really killed us.
“Kai (Hortsmann) was captain then and Joey (Carlisle) should have put that between the posts. We have got to learn when to take these chances.
“After that the last 20 minutes we were chasing shadows a little bit, but overall there were signs of the sort of rugby we would like to play next year.
“There was more willingness to run the ball and some better attacking rugby, and a lot of young players performed pretty well.”
Hill also had praise for his departing players who played their final game for the club at Franklin’s Gardens.
He added: “Kai played well before he got injured and has been good since he got back. He is a good lad and he has led well. He played well on his last game so I was pleased for him.
“Foro has given about 13 speeches so far and he will keep going all night, but he speaks well and is a tremendous leader. He is bitterly disappointed to be leaving.
“Two key figures who have been around a long time in a Worcester jersey and they spoke well today and you could see what it meant for them to play for Worcester.”
“At 23-14 we also had a penalty in front of the posts and had to kick for goal to go 23-17, that would have really put the pressure on them, and we didn’t. We went for the line, lost the lineout and that really killed us…"