Queen's Roll On
Rampant Queen's brushed aside another of their title rivals on Wednesday with what was at times almost disappointing ease.
Worcester, who started Hilary Term top of the table with an undefeated record, have now taken just one point from their last three matches.
They had their moments last Wednesday, but Queen's have been formidable at home all season, and showed no signs of slipping up despite a strong second-half performance from their opponents.
Queen's Adam Pilling set the trend for the afternoon early on when he stole in behind Worcester's defence to connect with a dangerous looking free kick, only to see his goal controversially disallowed for offside.
The frustrated home side then began to tighten their grip on the first half. Worcester, under pressure at the back, let captain Kurosh Nikbin sneak past the last man and coolly finish under pressure to give his side a much-deserved lead.
The onslaught continued as a clever flick-on from David Knox six minutes later released Pilling at the far post; he doubled the Queen's lead with a firm header.
At the other end, Worcester struggled to make anything of some promising counter attacks, with both strikers and the dynamic Will Maimaris spurning opportunities to beat Queen's imposing keeper Nick Woods.
Just two minutes after the restart Queen's had consolidated their lead - a superb ball from John Butterscotch finding the unmarked Sush Yalamanchili. His delightful first touch trapped the ball neatly, and his second struck a casual half-volley for the team's third.
Worcester were becoming increasingly aggravated, with both Joe Huxley and Don McKean picking up yellow cards for rash tackles.
This developed into despair a few minutes later as the consistently outstanding Queen's defender Paul Gorrie headed in his second goal in as many games.
Unfortunate keeper Dave Robinson was largely to blame, his catch somehow failing to keep the ball from crossing the line.
With 30 minutes left on the clock, Worcester brought Sam Rowlands off the bench in a bold tactical substitution. He changed the shape of the game instantly, with Mark Jerzykowski's perfectly placed through pass allowing Rowlands subtly to lob the keeper with an exquisite curling effort.
Although Worcester had greatly improved by the final whistle, a vintage performance from keeper Woods proved a constant thorn in the side of a revitalised attack.
By this point Queen's had been largely limited to speculative efforts, but were more than happy just to see out the last few minutes.
Queen's certainly look to be in a rich vein of form in recent weeks as other teams at the top end of the table stumble. With each win like this one the gap between them widens.
In the ominous words of Nikbin after the match, "the machine keeps rolling on". With promises from the captain of yet more to come, Queen's look the hot favourites to claim their first Premiership title.
3rd Feb 2005