Worcester claimed their fourth victory in five Guinness Premiership matches in front of a capacity crowd at Sixways.

The home side moved into fourth in the table and also denied Bristol a losing bonus point as Shane Drahm landed four penalties against his former club.

Match referee David Rose passed the pitch fit to play after consulting with the two captains despite it being a bitterly cold evening.

The two in-goal areas were very hard and one end looked more like a beach as it had been heavily sanded.

Worcester made two changes with Dale Rasmussen returning to the starting line-up in the centre following a knee injury and Craig Gillies back in the second row after missing last week's match against Sale with a calf strain.

Bristol's head coach Richard Hill named the same starting line-up which beat Leeds on Sunday.

Bristol came close to scoring the first try after six minutes but David Lemi was bundled in to touch just short by Thinus Delport.

Drahm saw his 40-metre drop goal attempt fall short and a penalty attempt from a similar position a couple of minutes later go wide.

England scrum-half Andy Gomarsall was then tackled just short of the line by centre Sam Cox.

Bristol were reduced to 14 men when Brian Lima was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball but the visitors soaked up the pressure and were able to clear their line through fly-half Jason Strange.

The stalemate was broken just before the half hour when full-back Nicolas Le Roux drew the Bristol defence before passing to Delport to race to the line.

A penalty from Strange put Bristol's first points on the board, but he missed another attempt as Worcester led 7-3 at the break.

Worcester increased their lead early in the second half through a Drahm penalty from in front of the posts. Bristol were again reduced to 14 men with centre Sam Cox yellow-carded for stamping on Gomarsall's head.

The Warriors took immediate advantage of the extra man with Aisea Havili scoring in the corner.

Drahm failed to convert from the touchline but kicked one penalty and then saw the next go across the face of the posts.

Bristol reduced the deficit through a well-worked try from openside flanker Joe El Abd which Strange converted.

Drahm added a third penalty but Bristol refused to give in and Lima, who had moved to the centre, sent Lemi in for their second try.

But Strange's conversion attempt hit the near upright and bounced back in to play and Drahm added a fourth penalty to deny Bristol a bonus point.