“IT was one of those games, the story of the season so far,” admitted a depressed Richard Hill after yet another late defeat for Warriors.

Worcester’s under-fire head coach saw his side work themselves into an 18-17 lead over Exeter Chiefs at Sixways only for their composure to once again desert them at the crucial stage.

Josh Matavesi’s needless yellow card with 10 minutes to go gave the visitors a lift and Australian international lock Dean Mumm crashed over with minutes remaining to snatch the victory.

Hill said: “I was delighted with the fightback. We fought back so well and the momentum appeared to be with us, but we still had a lot of defending to do with 10 minutes left.

“I could see us winning that game but the sin-bin caused us problems and being down to 14 men did not help.

“We had to increase our line speed in the second-half. Exeter had scored two good tries, but we had sat off them so we needed to come off the line hard.

“We had to retain possession better too, we had lots of ball in the first-half but squandered it while Exeter kept it better and went through multi-phases. We were going for the miracle ball.”

The Warriors boss admitted he would have to examine the footage of Matavesi’s match-turning incident.

He continued: “I didn’t really see the sin-bin — Josh thought the ball was out but I will have to have a look at it and if it was a silly one, then I’ll be disappointed.

“Josh apologised to the group in the huddle at the end. Did it turn the game? I don’t know, it was going to be tough but I felt we were in with a good shout, however, going down to 14 men didn’t help us.”

Hill admitted he was just as surprised as everyone else in the stadium when David Lemi saw a first-half try ruled out for a knock-on after the Samoan international looked to have scored.

“I couldn’t see the knock-on myself,” added Hill. “It was a great cross-kick from Andy Goode and really good work by David.

“The touch judge called it and it looked a very harsh one to me. I don’t think anyone in the stadium would have argued if it had been given.

“That was crucial and knocked a bit of stuffing out of us for a while, particularly as it was such a well-worked try.”