Crisis club Worcester Warriors made light of their ongoing survival issues as they gave Exeter Chiefs a real game before narrowly going down at Sixways.

Exeter ran in three tries as they established a 22-7 lead at half-time.

Warriors rallied in the second half, twice coming to within eight points, but ultimately ran out of steam.

But, although they showed immense spirit on the pitch in front of a reduced capacity 4,999 crowd, Worcester still face a real off-field battle to secure their immediate future.

Co-owner Jason Whittingham released another statement saying that he believes the club will still have new owners - and investment - within the next 48 hours.

But Warriors still had take to the field in last season's strip - and the game was only able to go ahead thanks to club staff making sure it went on by working for free.

It looked ominous when Exeter scored in their first attack in only the second minute, when full-back Joe Simmonds went over wide out on the left in a three-on-one overlap.

Scottish prop Murray McCallum was lucky to escape a red card for his late challenge on Simmonds which connected with his head - but referee Matthew Carley ruled that the initial contact had come with his shoulder and warranted only a yelllow.

It took until just before McCallum's return to the pitch for Exeter to score again on 17 minutes when Harvey Skinner's reverse pass set up Richard Capstick to go over in the right corner.

But six minutes later Ollie Lawrence created the platform for winger Alex Hearle to score wide out on the left - and Owen Williams landed his first kick at Sixways since suffering a bad hamstring injury when he slipped while attempting a shot at goal 12 months ago.

That got Warriors back in touch at 12-7 but Exeter restored their 12-point lead nine minutes from the break when Capstick again went over on the right - and Simmonds again converted, before adding a penalty to stretch Exeter to 22-7 up by the break.

Warriors made a bright start straight after the restart when they got their second try, lock Joe Batley's break down the left setting up scrum-half Gareth Simpson to score under the posts, allowing Williams to bring Warriors back to just 22-14 down.

But, having just had an effort chalked off two minutes earlier, Olly Woodburn this time went over unopposed in the left corner for Exeter's bonus-point try.

Still Warriors were not done when they went over for a third try from England centre Ollie Lawrence, this time improved by Billy Searle.

But Jack Maunder went under the posts to settle it with Exeter's fifth try, Simmonds adding his fourth conversion.

Worcester: Shillcock; Humphreys, Lawrence, Venter (capt), Hearle; Williams, Simpson; Morozov, Langdon, McCallum, Batley, A Kitchener, Lee-Warner, Neild, Dodd.

Replacements: Faiva, Sutherland, Tyack, Kitchener, Kvesic, Chudley, Searle, Heward.

Exeter: J Simmonds; Nowell, O'Loughlin, Whitten, Woodburn; Skinner, Townsend; Hepburn, Yeandle (capt), Street, Dunne, Gray, Kirsten, Tshiunza, Capstick.

Replacements: Innard, Kenny, Schickerling, Van Heerden, Ewers, Maunder, Kata, Cordero

Referee: Matthew Carley