THE bleeding has stopped and, for the first time since November, Worcester Warriors are moving in the right direction in the Premiership.

They showed great fighting spirit to edge a bruising encounter between the Premiership's two most recently promoted sides on a cold, wet night at the Memorial Stadium.

Ex-Bristol fly-half Shane Drahm, so often inspired when visiting his former stomping grounds, kicked the winning penalty shortly before the final whistle.

They now have a seven-point advantage over the West Country side in the Guinness Premiership and can again start to look towards the top rather than the bottom of the table.

Warriors went into the game with two of their most influential players back in the line-up. Captain Pat Sanderson returned on the open-side of the scrum, while Andre Van Niekerk began at hooker in his first apppearance since dislocating a shoulder on October 1.

Niether Sanderson nor Van Niekerk finished the game. But in the South African's case it had nothing to do with previous injuries.

Director of rugby John Brain had originally planned to use Van Niekerk as a substitute and did not want to over-stretch him on his return.

Sanderson was taken out of the action because of a cut to the head, but it was later found that he had again damaged his back.

As well as bringing back their big guns in the pack, Warriors had French flier Nicolas Le Roux returning at full-back and he was in the thick of it after just 40 seconds. As he leaped to claim the ball in the air, his elbow accidentally caught Bristol centre Brian Lima and knocked him out cold.

An eight-minute delay followed while an ambulance arrived for Lima but it was the visitors who seemed to be more affected by the break.

Despite the increasingly slippery conditions, Bristol looked to move it wide and the ploy was causing one or two problems for Warriors.

Wing Lee Robinson then tore them apart with a piercing run through the middle after latching on to a pass from scrum-half Shaun Perry.

Warriors responded with brute force. Sanderson led the charge and, slowly but surely, he hauled his team back into the game. Not for the first time this season they turned to Drahm and he didn't let anybody down, notching a pair of peanlties, to reduce the deficit to a single point.

And the number 10 played a big role in Worcester's first try. After Craig Gillies won the line-out, it was Drahm who played in Aisea Havili and his run under the posts was almost a replica of Robinson's at the other end. Drahm's conversion and a peanlty from each side saw the teams locked at 13-13 ten minutes into the second-half.

At that point, Worcester won a vital turn-over and Havili again showed why he is the club's most potent attacker. He sped down the touchline and passed to Thomas Lombard who, despite going to ground, mangaged to release number eight Drew Hickey for the score.

When the conversion went over, it looked like Warriors might take control, but that all changed when Drahm's kick was charged down by Mark Denney. Though the Worcester man was able to get back and make the tackle, Bristol did eventually profit with Jason Strange making the line.

Dale Rasmussen was then sin-binned for cynically taking out David Lemi as he chased his own chip. Although Strange kicked the penalty, Worcester were not made to pay for their numerical disadvantage and Drahm levelled the scores with a stunning kick from the right-hand touchline.

He then slotted what proved to be the winning peanlty although there was almost a late twist from the man he replaced at Worcester.

Tommy Hayes came on as a substitute for Bristol and had a chance for a late leveller. But the kick was short and wide and Worcester hung on.

Warriors:Le Roux; Havili, Rasmussen, Lombard, Tucker; Drahm, Gomarsall; Windo, Van Niekerk (Hickie), Taumoepeau, Murphy, Gillies, Horstmann, Sanderson (Harding), Hickey.

Attendance: 9,058.

Warriors man-of-the-match: Havili.