GARY Gold's reaction to London Irish's victory at Sixways was very interesting on Saturday evening.

The Exiles' head coach said he was "dreading" returning to Worcester on New Year's Day for our Premiership clash.

It's maybe not the reaction you would expect of a coach whose side have just won but he understood the reality of the match.

We went out of the Powergen Cup with a 9-7 defeat and the closeness of the result really does reflect just how tight the match was. The two sides were well matched although we felt we were a little unfortunate as we played all the rugby and were very positive.

After analysing the game in great depth, it's even clearer that we were a little hard done by. In our opinion, which is now backed up by video evidence, the scrum was not refereed as well as it could have been.

We dominated in that area and, if we had been awarded the penalties we should have had, the game would have been a very different affair.

Let me pose a question. The referee awarded a penalty try when it was 9-0. Would he have done the same if the score was still 6-0?

Certainly, we didn't do ourselves any favours in the first period but I think we played well in the second-half. I reject the theory that there was a lack of creativity because, if you look at the game, we got behind them on a number of occasions. The problem was that the last pass or the final piece of execution wasn't quite right and individual errors will always cause continuity issues.

We started the game very slowly and our discipline was all at sea in the opening period. Overall, we conceded 11 penalties but a large group were in the first-half.

The intensity, that we were all worried might not be there after our European Shield matches, wasn't at the right level. However, when we were reduced to 13 men in that first-half, it looked as if

somebody had flicked a switch because we scrapped, battled and prevented them from scoring in that period.

Then, in the second-half, part of the game plan worked well and it was just the

execution which let us down. James Brown kept us probing and his display was very encouraging considering he's been out of action for a

couple of months.

Sometimes, when the side struggles to score, supporters will pinpoint the outside-half but I think most fans know that it's not as

simplistic as that. After Christmas, on Bank Holiday Monday, we travel for the toughest test

possible at present. We take the trip to Leicester Tigers for what, on paper, looks a daunting game.

They are flying at the moment whether it's in the Premiership or in Europe.

What our captain Pat Sanderson has said this week, though, is that they are only human. Pat's had some good moments at Leicester in the past and he knows exactly what is required to win there. Physicality and commitment are pre-requisites if you are going to get anything from the game.

We travelled there in the cup a couple of years ago and I think we put up a pretty good fight before going out of the competition. A lot has happened to Worcester since then, however.

We're now going into the second-half of the season and there are some wonderful matches coming up for us. After Leicester, we welcome London Irish back to Sixways for the New Year's Day clash and we're really looking forward to that.

Despite the defeat, confidence levels are good and, touch wood, we don't have too many injuries at present. Ben Hinshelwood is back in training and a fit Ben is a real boost to the squad.

Certainly, I think we can be satisfied with our position at the half-way stage.

We've won three games so far in the Premiership and let's see what the New Year brings! We might feel a little aggrieved that we haven't picked up more points after decent performances at Leeds and against Gloucester.

I believe, however, that there is far more to come from us in the New Year. There certainly needs to be.