Worcester Raiders kept their promotion hopes alive with a 3-0 victory over Cheltenham Saracens at The Big Local Stadium thanks to a brace from Isaac Cooper either side of Sam Carey's headed goal inside the opening ten minutes.

After a mass team-on-team confrontation in the second half, captain Jordan Bryan for Saracens picked up a red card to rub further salt into the hosts' wounds.

Raiders were looking to bounce back form their agonising draw 14 days ago, hoping to pick up all three points on the road, and from the first whistle, Raiders showed just how much they wanted it.

In the third minute, Isaac Cooper effortlessly controlled a long cross-field ball out on the left wing, before cutting inside onto his right foot and curled the ball into the far corner.

This early push by the boys in red continued, and with just ten minutes on the clock, Cooper got himself involved with another goal. This time he delivered a perfect cross from a corner towards the back post where defender Carey was on hand to nod the ball home to double Raiders' lead.

After this quick fire double, Cheltenham put in a good job of holding Worcester down in the midfield, even creating a few chances for themselves which kept the visitors on their toes.

However, the hosts were unable to foil Karl Gormley’s men for much longer, as Carey was brought down inside the box, giving the referee no option but to award the a penalty.

This spot-kick duly fired home by Cooper for his second goal of the afternoon to spark scenes of jubilation among the travelling contingent on the side line.

Worcester were awarded another penalty in the 61st minute, however, keeper Joe Wright was able to get down low and deny Cooper his hat-trick, palming the shot out for a corner.

Ten minutes later, a full-team pushing contest ensued, with both sets of players being punished for their actions. Jordan Stoddart, Joe Billingham, and Cooper received a booking, while two players from Saracens were yellow-carded and their captain Byran was sent off.

This calmed the teams down, and Worcester were able to see out their 3-0 victory in comfortable style.

Raiders' title rivals Studley also came out as victors on Saturday, beating Shortwood United 2-0.

This means Worcester still sit three points behind Studley, having both played the same number of games, with just five league matches left to play.

Worcester Raiders | Young, L. Stoddart (c), Carey, Yates, J. Stoddart, Stratford, Cooper, Billingham, Murphy, Willis, Mahon

Substitutes | Richards, Mulders, Fennon, Woodhouse, Mountjoy