Mike Ruddock’s men dominated long periods of the game in terms of territory and possession and scored tries through wing aces Miles Benjamin and Rico Gear while the Falcons were shutout.

But the boot of Wilkinson always kept Falcons in the game and the late strike from the England No.10 consigned Warriors to a defeat that they did not deserve after a battling display.

The losing bonus point took Warriors further away from the foot of the Guinness Premiership but Director of Rugby Ruddock was left wondering what could and should have been after three tries were disallowed in controversial fashion.

“We’re very disappointed and on three occasions we felt we had scored tries only to have them disallowed,” he said.

“We claimed a morale victory and we deserved to win that game. Lady luck has deserted us at the moment, but that has to change if we continue to play in that manner.”

Ruddock had made three changes from the side that had lost at home to Harlequins, despite claiming the losing bonus point that took them off the foot of the Guinness Premiership.

Most notable, Loki Crichton was handed the starting fly half shirt in place of Shane Drahm to face his former club at Kingston Park.

Former British Lion Darren Morris was named in the front row in place of youngster Matt Mullan and wing speedster Miles Benjamin was picked in place of the injured Marcel Garvey. Newcastle lost Jamie Noon before the game with Tim Visser stepping up.

A high punt from full back Thinus Delport caused early confusion with opposite number Mathew Tait making a mess of his attempted catch.

Falcons attacked with real verve from the start but John Rudd’s kick into the corner had too much juice and dropped into touch over Miles Benjamin.

New Zealand centre Sam Tuitupou made an early inroad with a strong run before Crichton looked to pin Falcons back before Tait returned his boot with interest.

Crichton had a chance to break the deadlock when the home side were penalised for not rolling away but his kick was hooked wide right to let the Falcons off the hook.

Sanderson also suffered from a poor kick when he looked wide but booted behind his back division to put Worcester on the back foot with Jonny Wilkinson putting them back in their own 22.

Warriors were then dealt a blow with prop Darren Morris involved in a skirmish away from the ball with Mark Sorenson and referee Rob Debney reversed a penalty to give Wilkinson a simple kick to open the scoring from in front of the posts.

The visitors looked to rally from the blow with Matt Powell squirting a grubber into the Newcastle half and into touch before Tait again eased any pressure with his right foot.

Warriors were struggling to make any impact in the Falcons half in the opening exchanges. A forward pass from Toby Flood presented the visitors with a first real platform but Rico Gear put a foot in touch as he looked to accelerate away.

A superb kick from Wilkinson found touch only a few metres out after Warriors hauled down a rolling maul. However, Falcons made a complete mess of two lineouts to waste the opportunity to the relief of the away support.

Falcons looked left and right at pace but the Worcester forwards slammed the door shut and then turned over the ball but by now it was incessant home ball as Tait just failed to find his man our right to make the break.

Powell put a kick through that saw Benjamin bundle Tait into touch under pressure but seconds later the young wing knocked on after a kick from Wilkinson to hand the ball back to the home team.

Neither side could unlock solid defences as the game descended into a kicking battle for territory.

Scramble defence saved Newcastle after skipper Pat Sanderson forced a turnover in midfield and then chipped through for Benjamin to chase with just under 15 minutes left in the first half. Flood backtracked to hack clear despite a diving attempt at a block from Dale Rasmussen.

Worcester were suddenly in the ascendancy with Delport pumping his legs to go close before being held up after he charged through three tackles with the support of centre duo Tuitupou and Rasmussen.

Tuitupou again went close with a typically strong burst before hooker Aleki Lutui was held up. But the pressure was soon to pay off as Gear came off his wing to make the extra man in midfield with opposite number Benjamin sliding over in the corner. Crichton was just short with his conversion attempt but Worcester took a 5-3 lead.

Greg Rawlinson confidently took the restart to burst forward before a wayward kick from Sanderson handed Newcastle back the ball with Flood kicking for the corner after Worcester were hit for going over the top.

But the Worcester forwards were up for the battle as they kept the ball slow in the breakdown with Falcons having to go wide. A break from Tait made room for Ben Woods to burrow close before Worcester illegally slowed the ball down and Wilkinson nudged his side ahead with a penalty just before the interval.

Flood put Warriors back in their own half from the restart with a deep kick to the corner and when Tom Wood was caught on the wrong side up stepped Wilkinson to drill the ball between the posts to extend the lead.

Gear mopped up a kick from Wilkinson seconds later but Delport’s clearance was sliced into touch and then Powell repeated the error on the other side of the field as individual mistakes hurt Warriors with the lineout also now failing to fire at crucial times.

Wilkinson failed with an audacious drop goal that dropped short, almost skipped over on the bounce and hit the post forcing Delport to hurriedly clear. Wilkinson then saw his penalty drop just under the bar to the relief of the visitors.

Crichton cross field kick found Gear who handed handed off his man before flicking inside to Rasmussen before Tuitupou made a break only for his offload to Sanderson to fail to find hands.

Flying full back Delport then collected a Flood kick and was shoulder barged off the ball by John Rudd. Crichton kicked the resulting penalty to the corner but Lutui was held up for the second time in the match.

However, within seconds Crichton and Tuitupou linked up well with slick hands before setting up Gear who showed stunning power as he bulldozed over from 20 yards out. Crichton added the extras for a 12-9 lead.

Newcastle rallied and came flying back and ran the ball repeatedly ran from deep before Crichton was penalised for a late tackle on Tom May and Wilkinson continued his fine day with the boot by levelling the score with 15 minutes left.

Worcester hit back with real relish with Crichton failing to use an overlap quickly enough to find Benjamin out wide and then Delport thinking he had escaped to score only for referee Debney to pull action back for a forward pass by Sanderson.

Worcester were smashing on the door but Newcastle, who were proving little threat in attack, held firm before turning the ball over to ease the growing visiting pressure with Flood picking up off his toes to smash clear.

Replacement Ollie Phillips ran clear to spark panic before Warriors managed to frantically retreat to cover the danger. But seconds later Wilkinson dropped in the pocket and stroked over a drop goal to edge his team ahead.

Warriors staged a late fight-back with Gear taking three men to bundle him into touch close to the line as Ruddock also rang the changes looking for a way back into the game.

Worcester bashed on the door for several minutes but when Drew Hickey knocked on the final chance was gone and Warriors had to settle for a point when most observers felt they should have taken a win.

Timeline:

11m Wilkinson p 3-0

27m Benjamin t 3-5

36m Wilkinson p 6-5

43m Wilkinson p 9-5

56m Gear t Crichton c 9-12

64m Wilkinson p 12-12

72m Wilkinson dg 15-12

Warriors: 01 Darren Morris (Mullan 74), 02 Aleki Lutui, 03 Tevita Taumoepeau (Ruwers 74), 04 Greg Rawlinson, 05 Craig Gillies (Bowley 64), 06 Tom Wood (Quinnell 71), 07 Pat Sanderson, 08 Drew Hickey, 09 Matt Powell (Arr 73), 10 Loki Crichton, 11 Miles Benjamin, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 13 Dale Rasmussen, 14 Rico Gear, 15 Thinus Delport

Replacements: 16 Shaun Ruwers, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Will Bowley, 19 Gavin Quinnell, 20 Jonny Arr, 21 James Brown, 22 Chris Pennell