Worcester have never won in the top-flight in Bath and despite a spirited display could not halt that unwanted record as the home side pulled away from them in the league standings with a bonus point win.

Peter Stringer gave Bath the ideal start with a try after just six minutes and when Dean Schofield was yellow carded midway through the first half a second score from Rob Webber followed to put the hosts in the ascendancy.

Fly half Danny Gray, a late replacement for the unwell Andy Goode, kept Worcester within touching distance with three penalties as Bath took a narrow 13-9 lead into the break.

Warriors dominated the early stages of the second half but the turning point came when Aleki Lutui was held up going for a score that would have given Richard Hill's men the lead.

Worcester's failed to take advantage, during a period when Bath were down to 14 men after a yellow card to Dave Attwood, and paid the price when Tom Biggs then scored against the run of play.

Horacio Agulla then wrapped up the try bonus point with two scores Bath as Warriors, who lost Craig Gillies and David Lemi to late yellow cards, were left to contemplate another disappointing afternoon in the West Country.

Warriors were disrupted by late change as Goode was forced out after feeling unwell in the warm-up and his place was taken by Gray, with the fit-again Joe Carlisle called up to the bench.

Gray showed some neat footwork in the opening minutes, but a knock on saw Biggs kick into space and force Lemi to scoop up the loose ball and run the ball out for a five metre lineout to the hosts.

Warriors repelled the first attack as Bath lost the ball forward after driving the lineout up close. The visiting scrum, though, was turned over immediately as referee Wayne Barnes awarded a free kick for early engagement.

Sustained home pressure resulted in Number Eight Ben Skirving and wing Biggs going close before Stringer burrowed over from close range for the opening score after six minutes.

Jonny Arr left an early impression on World Cup winner Stephen Donald to leave the fly half on the floor while Schofield carried strongly into contact as Worcester looked for a quick response.

Warriors were carrying the ball back in midfield with real desire and won a penalty against home hooker Rob Webber on the floor that Gray kicked for territory.

Worcester then thought they had scored as Jon Clarke flicked an inside pass to Lemi and the winger blasted his way over. However, referee Barnes called play back for a forward pass against the centre and Warriors had to settle for a penalty.

Gray was looking lively as he looked to orchestrate play while wing Josh Draiuniniu stepped inside Biggs but could not find the supporting Claassens on his left shoulder.

Bath were tactically kicking deep into the corners and full back Claassens had to show some clever running to evade Kyle Eastmond and clear the ball before the home side gave away a penalty as they looked to drive a lineout over.

The hosts came strong again as big prop Anthony Perenise broke tackles and when they won a penalty it was duly kicked to the corner by Donald.

The first drive saw Schofield yellow carded for illegally halting the move but there was no stopping the second wave as Webber drove over.

Try scorer Webber infringed at the restart as he held on under huge pressure from Arr and Aleki Lutui and Gray pointed to the posts and duly struck a clean kick over to reduce the lead.

Warriors were forced to dig deep to contain Bath for several minutes before a stray lineout saw Matt Kvesic barrel past two tackles.

Schofield marked his return from the sin bin with a barnstorming carry to take Warriors six metres out and when Bath came in at the side of the ruck the penalty was awarded and Gray reduced the lead to a point.

However, within a minute Donald made up for two earlier missed conversions with a penalty of his own to give the home side a 13-9 half-time lead.

Warriors started the second half very much still in the mix and looked to assert some early pressure and carried again into contact with force a field position after successive penalties saw referee Barnes warn home captain Francois Louw.

The next penalty saw Barnes yellow card Dave Attwood and Worcester were really trying to take full advantage as Schofield and Clarke looked to crash over.

A big driving lineout saw Lutui go over the line but he was held up by desperate Bath defence as Warriors turned the screw.

Worcester needed to make the man advantage count but after minute after minute of pressure the ball was turned over and a huge chance lost.

The failure to score cost Warriors within a minute as Bath went wide and Biggs bounced off the final tackle and raced in to give the home side a huge advantage totally against the run of play in the second half.

Worcester needed a spark and kept the ball alive with Lemi looking to take advantage of Percival's powerful run before Hill made four changes to try and kick-start his Warriors with less than 20 minutes to go.

Bath wrapped up the bonus point in the 65^th minute when a forward drive opened up space and the hosts went wide at pace with Eastmond floating a pass out of the tackle to Argentine Agulla to score.

The home side were suddenly unleashed and looking to play from all over the field with the game won as Biggs broke into space but was brilliantly hauled down by Kvesic as he looked to race away.

Worcester's afternoon got even harder as Gillies was yellow carded for the use of a knee at the breakdown and then Lemi was unfortunate to be sin binned for a deliberate knock on going for an intercept as Warriors had to play out the final seven minutes with 13 men.

Bath rubbed late salt in the wound when Heathcote cross kicked neatly for Agulla to take the ball one handed and touch down to wrap up the victory.

Timeline:

06m Stringer t 5-0

15m Gray p 5-3

24m Webber t 10-3

27m Gray p 10-6

38m Gray p 10-9

39m Donald p 13-9

55m Biggs t 18-9

64m Agulla t Heathcote c 25-9

77m Agulla t Heathcote c 32-9

Warriors: 01 Matt Mullan (Jones 71), 02 Aleki Lutui (Shervington 62), 03 John Andress (O'Donnell 71), 04 James Percival, 05 Dean Schofield (Gillies 70), 06 Neil Best (Abbott 62), 07 Sam Betty, 08 Matt Kvesic, 09 Jonny Arr (Hodgson 62), 10 Danny Gray (Carlisle 71), 11 David Lemi, 12 Jon Clarke, 13 Alex Grove, 14 Josh Drauniniu, 15 Errie Claassens (Matavesi 62)

Replacements: 16 Ed Shervington, 17 Ceri Jones, 18 Rob O'Donnell, 19 Craig Gillies, 20 Jake Abbott, 21 Paul Hodgson, 22 Joe Carlisle, 23 Josh Matavesi