DEFEAT brought a new taste to life at Sixways -- it was distinctly sour and one I don't want to saviour again this season.

After three successive victories going into our game at Bath, confidence was high. Unfortunately, I think complacency crept in and we put in one of our worst displays of the season at the Rec.

It was an unacceptable performance. There is no denying that but we enjoyed a fabulous February going into the match and I think we should remember that it's far from doom and gloom.

The message at the start of the season was to finish 11th or above. That's never changed for us and our priorities have always been to maintain our Premiership stay. So, with four games to go, we are seven points clear of the bottom and we know our destiny is still in our own hands.

Saturday was really frustrating for everybody involved because we never got our game going against a weakened Bath side. We trained well leading up to the match but we showed none of that during the 80 minutes.

Microscopic

We thought we'd covered everything. We looked at Bath in microscopic detail but just couldn't perform when it mattered.

Without a shadow of a doubt it was four points lost and a big missed opportunity because we could have put a good distance between ourselves and that bottom place.

Now, we're looking at our next game as a very important match because we need to keep on picking up the points.

If we look at our next three games, we're up against quality teams. We've got Saracens, Newcastle and Wasps with two of those matches away from Sixways. It means that we've got to get points from those games and suddenly, the Saracens clash is a big one for us.

It's not something we should be afraid of, however. We're 10th in the league and have an obvious advantage over those teams below us.

Certainly, if you'd have given me that scenario --with four games left -- at the start of the season then, obviously, I would have taken it.

The Bath performance, however bad, is now in the past and we have to look forward. We accept that we've made life a lot harder for ourselves but I think we've already shown our fighting spirit this season and it just makes us even more determined to bounce back.

What we don't want is for it to come down to the last day of the season where we've only got a three-point cushion.

You have to look after your own back yard and we certainly cannot afford to think that Leeds or Northampton will continue to lose from now until the end of the season.

What's important from our perspective now is how we react to this defeat and the poor performance. We've shown good character so far, but now it's vital that we pull together and focus totally on Saracens a week on Saturday.

We will look at the Bath game in great detail but we remain a close-knit group and determined to put things right. Certainly, we're not going to implode after one defeat.

We've come a long way this season, proving a lot of people wrong along the way so there will be no knee-jerk reaction from us.

At Sixways, we have faith in the players and, despite this setback, I'm confident they will turn things around.