DIRECTOR of rugby Alan Solomons hailed a “complete” team performance by Worcester Warriors after holding firm to beat Bristol Bears 27-25 at Ashton Gate.

First-half tries from Ted Hill, Ben Te’o and Josh Adams and 12 points from the boot of Duncan Weir saw Warriors edge their Gallagher Premiership rivals.

But it was their defensive resilience when down to 14 men that Solomons felt was key to securing a four-point win that boosts Worcester’s survival hopes.

Hooker Niall Annett was sin-binned for collapsing a maul resulting in a penalty try on five minutes before centre Te’o saw yellow for offside in the final 10 minutes.

Bristol threw everything at Warriors and had a great chance at the death when Andy Uren broke through but Solomons’ side managed to regain possession and see out time.

“It was always going to be a very close game,” Solomons said.

“I have spoken about this a number of times this season but I thought the resilience and resolve that we showed again was tremendous.

“When you look at the opening minutes they scored and we went down to 14 men. We then went down to 14 again at the end of the game.

“That’s 60 of the 80 minutes (a man down).

“They then get that chance after the ball flew out of the scrum. We managed to stop Andy close to the line.

“We held onto the ball for long enough to be able to kick it out to win the game.”

Flanker Hill was among a number of players that starred in the victory and Solomons was thrilled with his side’s showing.

“Ted was outstanding but it is difficult to single out anyone,” Solomons said.

“I thought it was a complete team effort.

“They gave absolutely everything they had. It was an unbelievable effort.”

After scoring three tries in the opening period Warriors piled on the pressure to get the bonus point after the interval.

But Weir was ruled out a score and then Callum Sheedy went over on 66 minutes to set up a tense finale.

“Had Duncan kept hold of the ball and pressed it against the post that would have been a try,” Solomons said.

“That would have been a big point for us.

“I think it was around 64 minutes when Bristol kicked the ball down to us and Chris (Pennell) played it to Josh but they turned it over.

“They got a seven-pointer from that so that was a big moment and made the end what it was.”

On the impact of the travelling fans, Solomons added: “This is a big stadium and the bulk of the people are naturally going to be from Bristol.

“But to have our supporters here and a good crop of them too makes a massive difference to the players.”

With Newcastle beating Sale Sharks 22-17 Warriors and Bristol are three and seven points respectively above the drop zone.

Bears boss Pat Lam felt it was a game his side "let slip away" and reckoned Worcester did well at "hounding us".

"We started off well but defensively it was way too easy for them," Lam said.

"They caught us on the edge a few times. We spoke at half-time about shoring up our defence and stopping their flow which we did really well in the second half and used the ball better.

"It was frustrating the whole game with the way the ball was slowed down and you need strong officials out there.

"But we had quite a few opportunities to win that game and we just couldn't get away from them."