TWO second-half tries by evergreen back-row forward Jon Andrews helped Droitwich come from behind to beat Worcester Wanderers 23-16 in the North Midlands Shield.

The gusting wind was very much a factor and Worcester took advantage in the first-half to take a 16-0 lead into the interval.

Scrum-half Joph Young kicked them into a 3-0 lead with an early penalty.

It was 15 minutes before Droitwich gave away their second penalty for off-side and Young doubled the advantage.

The Worcester forwards gained in confidence against the heavier Droitwich pack and, with stand-off Gareth Hughes producing some fine positional kicking, the forwards set up a number of attacks which led to them mauling the ball towards the line.

Droitwich dropped the maul on their '22' to give Young his third penalty in the front of the posts, which he kicked clinically to take Wanderers further ahead, requiring Droitwich to score twice.

The game was played mainly in midfield for the second quarter of the match with Droitwich making breaks and nearly making it to the Worcester line only to be defeated by strong defence.

In the 25th minute, Wanderers were awarded a penalty on the Droitwich five-metre line and Young reacted quickly, tapping and then passing swiftly to Hughes, who scampered past two defenders and scored under the posts.

With the wind behind them, Droitwich came out in the second-half with renewed vigour and urgency and Worcester had to dig deep to keep their backs out.

They weathered the onslaught until seven minutes into the half when there was a line-out take by Paul Sweeney and the home pack drove forward for number eight Andrews to peel off and score.

Worcester responded with attacks of their own and the pairing of centre Ryan Henshaw and wing Steve Crow nearly made it to the line on a couple of occasions but they were thwarted by a determined Droitwich defence.

After 15 minutes of the second-half, good possession in the midfield was passed along the line for Leon Hopkins to show great pace and strength to score again for Droitwich.

Matt Blackmore then slotted a pair of penalties, which gave Droitwich the lead for the first time in the match.

Droitwich managed to repel pressure from Worcester and then launched a counter-attack, which culminated in Andrews again penetrating the line.

The two sides will meet again at the Glynn Mitchell Memorial Ground in the league on Saturday (2.30pm).