Aviva Premiership: Worcester remain winless after last-gasp Wasps defeat
Worcester were denied their first win of the season after suffering a heartbreaking 13-11 defeat to Wasps.
Last Updated: 21/03/14 10:21pm
Wasps prop Jake Cooper-Woolley crashed over in the last minute to level the scores and former Warriors player Andy Goode slotted over the conversion to extend Worcester's losing run to 17 games.
The Warriors led 11-6 approaching the final minute after flanker Sam Betty's second-half try looked to have secured four priceless points.
Wasps had been the Warriors' last Premiership victims on March 1, 2013, since when Worcester had gone 21 league games without a win.
But Wasps prop Cooper-Woolley touched down from close-range, and former Worcester fly-half Goode converted with the game's final kick to edge Wasps home.
Worcester are now 10 points adrift of 11th-placed Newcastle with just five league games left, and they will travel to Tyneside on Sunday week knowing they have to win following an excruciating 13-11 defeat at Wasps' hands.
Betty's 53rd-minute touchdown left Wasps floundering, along with penalties from full-back Chris Pennell and fly-half Ryan Lamb, yet Goode came up trumps by adding a conversion to an earlier penalty double, and Worcester were sunk.
Wasps, Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finalists, are destined for a mid-table Premiership finish, and much of their latest league performance lacked snap and precision despite England lock Joe Launchbury making a quickfire return to domestic action following his mighty displays in the RBS Six Nations Championship.
While Launchbury delivered a trademark hard-working shift, there was little else for Wasps rugby director David Young to enthuse about, apart from full-back Elliot Daly's assured contribution and Cooper-Woolley's late score.
Worcester boss Dean Ryan will now train his sights towards Kingston Park in nine days' time knowing that victory would kick-start hopes of completing an astonishing escape from the drop, but it appears an unlikely scenario.