IT is hard to muster much festive cheer at Sixways after back-to-back home defeats left the club's prospects of a Premiership revival in tatters.

The optimism which preceded those two matches has been replaced by a sense of despair and a degree of anger among supporters, many of whom headed for the exits long before the final whistle in Wednesday night's meeting with Quins.

Such disgruntlement is disheartening for everyone connected with the club, especially when you consider the home side only required a converted try to snatch a draw.

But there is a sense of inevitability about Warriors these days.

There is plenty of endeavour but little enterprise and basic errors are costing the side games they can ill-afford to lose.

Last season, Worcester were in fourth place in the league on Christmas Day and dreaming of sneaking into the end-of-season play-offs.

The next day they surrendered their unbeaten home record to Bath and followed that with nine defeats out of 11 at their own ground in 2006.

Victory at Northampton may well hand John Brain's side a stay of execution but the fact of the matter is sides who can't win at home don't hang around too long in the top flight.

It is an extraordinary decline and fingers are being pointed in all directions for a scapegoat. Anthony Eddy has already paid with his job for attempting to make the team into a more progressive, less predictable outfit.

It appeared to make sense at the time but it now appears the Australian was on a hiding to nothing. The one player who gave Worcester's back-line some dash and colour - Nicolas Le Roux - departed in the summer and none of the new arrivals in that department have made an impression.

In the post-Eddy era, the team have regressed back to plan A'. It seemed to be working as they notched four consecutive wins but against London Irish last Friday, they couldn't gain any sort of territorial advantage.

The Quins clash was a different matter as the hosts paid for individual errors. A significant portion of the game was played with uncontested scrums but it is unlikely the outcome would have been much different had the visitors' front row stayed intact.

As Brain has pointed out on numerous occasions, his players do not lack commitment or passion. After all, they are virtually the same set of players that propelled the side to such lofty heights 12 months ago.

What they have been short of in 2006 is a sense of direction. Whatever division the club is in next season, a long-term plan needs to be formulated which will make the most out of those players available.

The frustration was best summed up by Brain after the Quins game. Having signed two of the British game's most exciting talents in Aisea Havili and Marcel Garvey, the club have failed to utilise their speed in vital matches.

Brain said: "I think we have got two very quick wingers but it was a cause of concern that we couldn't get them the ball with a one-on-one which is what we like to do."

In this regard, they have certainly not been helped by the patchy form of Shane Drahm at number 10 or the club's failure to recruit a creative centre.

We have been told Worc-ester possess one of the best academies in the country and the ability of their youngsters could shape the approach taken by the club in coming years.

All we can hope is they are given the chance to develop as a side worthy of competing with the domestic elite.