But second half tries from Uche Oduoza and Craig Everett - in three electric minutes - left the visitors reeling before Charlie Fellows added at a late individual stunner.

And the boot of second half replacement Shane Drahm ensured Warriors roared back for a spectacular victory as he coolly slotted 18 points to the delight of a bumper home crowd of 1,534.

"It was a fantastic effort by the entire 22 involved in the game, especially being down at half-time," said Academy boss Andrew Stanley.

"We needed to just believe in ourselves a little more in the second half and look after the ball which we did well. To score three tries and the amount of points we did was a real achievement.

"Full credit to Leicester Tigers, they had a very strong side out and it was difficulty for us throughout the game.

"It was a great team effort in front of a fantastic support who helped us finish strongly."

Matt Mullan led the team - in place of first team call-up Tom Wood – and started as hooker in a front row that also features Callum Black and summer signing Shaun Ruwers.

Rising star Jonny Arr is named at scrum half while Tim Collier continued his return to fitness at lock and second row Graham Kitchener starts just days after penning a new two-year deal.

Tigers included three former Warriors in Richard Blaze, Alex Moreno and Gavin Hickie in the starting line-up.

The game started at a lightening pace and Tigers burst into life to open the scoring after less than two minutes when Ian Humphries burst through the defence and tore home from 40 metres out. The fly half stepped up to complete the job with his touch line kick slotting between the posts.

Warriors responded with wing Uche Oduoza making a dancing line break on the right flank before feeding Joe Carlisle to make further yards. Tigers were hit for offside but Carlisle’s penalty drifted wide left of the posts.

Tigers extended the lead on seven minutes when Humphries again spilt the posts with a penalty and the visitors were increasingly looking a threat in the backs on every attack.

Worcester were defending well as a unit to keep a vibrant Tigers team out as the visitors enjoyed territorial advantage in the opening 20 minutes at a cold Sixways.

Ruwers made his impact known with a number of crunching runs in midfield as Warriors finally made some progress into the visiting half with Carlisle reducing the deficit with a penalty on 19 minutes after Tigers failed to roll away.

The home side were straight on the attack from the restart with Oduoza showing his raw pace to break clear before the ball was spun through hands left. Carlisle looked to unlock the Tigers defence with a cross field kick but it just failed to find a Warrior on the right wing.

Carlisle pulled a penalty wide but Warriors were enjoying a better spell at the midway point of the first half as the forwards took control of the breakdown to win ball and the backs started to click into gear.

But it was Tigers who struck a decisive blow again when wing Will Hurrell produced a stunning run from deep to make 30 yards before the ball was spun wide right with Humphries applying the finishing touches as he fed Tom Croft to cross the whitewash.

Former Warrior Blaze blotted his copybook with a needless penalty, after Leicester had been awarded one of their own, that Carlisle kicked to the corner. But lock Blaze made amends as he stole the lineout before the ball was thumped clear.

Humphries missed a drop goal as Leicester looked to extend their lead just before the break.

Warriors made two changes at the break with fly half Shane Drahm on for Carlisle and Ben Gotting replacing Ruwers in the front row, with Mullan moving to prop.

Drahm instantly made an impact with a penalty a minute after the break after Tigers infringed at the breakdown before a third change with Jake Abbott on for back row Matt Cox.

Tigers responded with a surge from deep only for the ball to be knocked on close to the Worcester line as the tackles flew in from the home side, with Craig Everett dragging down Ben Youngs as he looked to fly clear.

Drahm was again pulling the strings alongside the influential Arr with his cross field kick finding Charlie Fellows who pressed the accelerator only to be dragged back by his opposite winger.

Gary Trueman showed nice footwork to make yards before Oduoza was just held up short after another powerful run before a penalty saw Drahm again chip away at the lead.

Greg Evans was introduced for the hard-running Alex Grove at centre as both teams traded long kicks for field position as the half wore on.

Tigers hit back with some pressure of their own and opted to kick for the corner instead of taking three points when they won a penalty after the hour. The brave decision paid off when Croft dived over on 64 minutes for his second of the night. Humphries added the conversion for the comfort of a 22-9 lead.

Worcester, though. hit back within 60 seconds when Oduoza broke right and was just held up. The forwards swarmed in and when the ball was recycled it again found the powerful wing who was driven over. Drahm hit his conversion true to again cut the lead to six points.

It got even better three minutes later when more forward pressure saw the ball turned over and Oduoza chipped over with Evans taking the ball. He showed great awareness to offload in the tackle and feed Everett who blitzed over. Drahm added the extras for a one-point lead.

Tigers responded to being shellshocked with two tries in three minutes with Humphries making no mistake with a penalty to regain the lead before Drahm again slotted a kick of his own as a seesaw match continued to the delight of a healthy home crowd.

Drahm was again the man of the moment with another penalty as the noise levels continued to grow inside the stadium before wing Fellows scored a stunning late individual try as he danced past several men to cross the line and put the icing on the cake.

Timeline:

2m Humphries t Humphries c 0-7
7m Humphries p 0-10
19m Carlisle p 3-10
30m Croft t 3-15
41m Drahm p 6-15
52m Drahm p 9-15
64m Croft t Humphries 9-22
65m Oduoza t Drahm c 16-22
68m Everett t Drahm c 23-22
70m Humphries p 23-25
72m Drahm p 26-25
78m Drahm p 29-25
80m Fellows t Drahm c 36-25

Warriors: 01 Callum Black, 02 Matt Mullan, 03 Shaun Ruwers (Gotting 40), 04 Tim Collier, 05 Graham Kitchener, 06 Matt Cox (Abbott 46), 07 Halotti Molatika (Pitfield 65), 08 Craig Everett, 09 Jonny Arr (Runciman 65), 10 Joe Carlisle (Drahm 40), 11 Charlie Fellows, 12 Gary Trueman, 13 Alex Grove (Evans 54), 14 Uche Oduoza, 15 Tom Wheatcroft

Replacements: 16 Ben Gotting, 17 Jack Gilding, 18 Simon Pitfield, 19 Jake Abbott, 20 Will Runciman, 21 Shane Drahm, 22 Greg Evans