DIRECTOR of rugby Gary Gold has urged supporters to get Sixways rocking as Worcester Warriors bid to close the gap on Sale Sharks with a win tonight (7.45pm).

Warriors are on the crest of a wave after beating Northampton Saints 30-15 and Leicester Tigers 31-27 to move off the bottom of the Aviva Premiership.

Another maximum-point success could see Warriors get within one point of 10th-placed Sharks as well as pull them further clear of basement side London Irish.

But Gold has declared Sale as favourites to win and believes his side will need all the help they can get from their home fans to see off the visitors.

“Our crowd has an amazing voice and really are the 16th man for us as they are so close to the side of the pitch,” Gold said.

“We saw what it was like last year in the games against Bristol and Bath so we massively value the support.

“We talk about it on a regular basis how much these performances are for our supporters.

“But we would really love them to come down and give us a shout because it has been a fairly long time since Worcester were able to string some results together.

“I reckon Sale will come down as favourites so we are going to need all the help we can get.”

Gold admitted Warriors would have their work cut out against a Sale back-line that include Australian ace James O’Connor and England wing Denny Solomona.

But he was confident his side would cause Sharks just as much trouble having racked up 15 tries in their last three league games.

“The balance that Steve Diamond has got is really good as they have got a big strong, heavy pack and obviously these game breakers in the backs,” Gold said.

“Faf de Klerk, O’Connor, Marland Yarde and Solomona are all game-breaker as they can make magic for you on an evening and are doing that for Sale.

“On a surface like they are going to want to move the ball, so we are going to have our work cut out for us. But we are not going to sit back and let a team run at us.

“We want to play a ball in hand game as well.

“We have shown what we can do by the tries we have scored and we need to continue to do that.”

Sale number eight Josh Strauss reckons his side are close to clicking into top gear and are determined to show they can be successful away from the AJ Bell Stadium.

“We have set ourselves the challenge of trying to get a complete performance,” he said.

“It’s almost like killing two birds with one stone this week as we want to get over that hurdle and prove we can do it on the road as well.”