Leicester Tigers took control of Pool 2 in the LV= Cup with a hard-fought 21-18 win over Worcester Warriors at Sixways.
The visitors came back from an early 10-point deficit to lead 21-13 going into the closing stages after a 68th-minute penalty try and one from Michael Noone.
But Jonathan Thomas' late score for Worcester made for a thrilling finish and Tigers substitute Pasqualle Dunn made a stunning try-saving tackle as the hosts threatened a remarkable victory.
Warriors were left to rue the kicking of Paul Warwick and Andy Symons, who missed 13 points between them.
Warriors began in confident fashion and were 10-0 ahead in the opening quarter-of-an-hour.
Former Tiger Symons had already missed an early penalty before he got on the scoresheet after five minutes.
The move began in their own 22 with centre Max Stelling making a break, which was finished a couple of phases later by Symons, who only signed for the Warriors last week.
In Tigers' only real attack of the early exchanges, Owen Williams saw his 40-metre penalty hit the post and Warwick cleared.
And it was Warwick who sent a huge up-and-under into the sky which began the move for the home side's second try.
Henry Purdy got nowhere near the ball in defence and the bounce was picked up by Symons, who offloaded to Jake Abbott and the flanker ran in from 40 metres.
Warwick missed the conversion though and, by the time Symons had pushed a 29th-minute penalty horribly wide, Worcester had wasted 10 points in very makeable kicks.
Meanwhile, Owen Williams had found his range. His two penalties pulled the score back to 10-6 and, when Warriors flanker Sam Betty was sin-binned after Miles Benjamin's scintillating break, the Welshman coolly struck over a drop-goal to make it 10-9 at the break.
Leicester made the most of their man advantage at the start of the second period and took the lead for the first time in the 46th minute.
A rolling maul from a line-out got Tigers very close to the line and fast hands from Jordan Crane created space in the corner for Noone to score his second try in as many games.
Williams failed with a touchline conversion but the visitors led 14-10 and had scored eight points with Betty off the field.
Warwick missed another penalty and when he finally got one over on 52 minutes, the Sixways faithful launched some ironic cheers for a first successful penalty in six attempts.
That made it a one-point game, but, amid a raft of substitutions, Tigers began to take control of the game and with former Warrior Benjamin in their ranks, had the man most likely to break the line.
In the end, though, it was the forwards who provided the killer blow with 13 minutes left.
Tigers had pounded the opposition line for several minutes after Jamie Gibson's initial break until the referee lost patience with a retreating Worcester scrum and went under the posts. Williams added the extras and Tigers led 21-13.
Gibson was binned late on and with a minute left, Jonathan Thomas crashed over for Worcester's third try to make it 21-18.
There were still time for late drama when substitute Pasqualle Dunn made a stunning try-saving tackle as Worcester broke.
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