ALEX CROCKETT wants Bath to rediscover their tempo in order to get their proud home record back on track against Worcester today.

Including their pre-season friendly defeat against Edinburgh, Bath have lost their last two matches at the Recreation Ground – and sit in the top half of the Guinness Premiership thanks to away wins at Bristol and London Irish.

Bath only lost once at home in the league all season as they finished third in the Premiership last term – and club captain Crockett understands the importance of winning your home games.

"It seems a bit strange at the moment – for years we've been good here and struggled on the road," said the centre.

"But with the Edinburgh friendly and the Gloucester game, we haven't won here for a while now – and I can't remember the last time we had back-to-back defeats at home.

"It's something we need to put right, because we pride ourselves on our home form and playing here at the Rec.

"Not only did we lose against Gloucester but the tempo was off – normally we out-enthuse teams and we need to get that hunger back and get the game up to a faster pace."

And Crockett, who missed the opening games of the season against Bristol and Gloucester through injury, felt his side could have given Gloucester a sterner physical examination when they visited the Rec two weeks ago.

The men from Kingsholm claimed their first ever league victory on Bath soil with a 21-17 success – but Crockett felt there were some key components missing from his side's game.

"David Flatman said this week that teams coming here normally know that at the very least they are going to get a real physical encounter, beaten up almost," said Crockett.

"But I don't think Gloucester walked away from the Rec thinking that they had just been beaten up. We need to let teams know that when they come here they are in for a real battle."

Worcester have beaten Wasps and lost to Northampton and Leicester this season, but there is one match Crockett expects them to remember more than most – May's European Challenge Cup final defeat to Bath at Kingsholm.

The result gave Bath their first trophy for a decade – and Crockett knows just how much Worcester will still be hurting from coming so close to winning some major silverware of their own.

"I'm sure the final will be on a few of their minds still, so that will be motivation for them," he said.

"But if we play the way we want to play, with the tempo, intensity and physicality, hopefully we can eradicate any of the motivation they might have from those memories.

"We need to stay ambitious after last season. We can't just say, 'We've got some silverware – that'll do'.

"It's time for us to push on and get the expectations up again, both from us as players and the crowd. I want there to be expectations to win silverware every year."

On a personal note, Crockett is merely pleased to be playing again – even if he did have some explaining to do to his mother after letting off some frustration at the Madejski Stadium last weekend.

"I had a bit of pent-up aggression which boiled over a couple of times, but that's what not playing in a couple of derbies does for you!" he said.

"It's not like me at all and I told my mother it was a case of mistaken identity - which is not all that unbelievable, because I did actually get called Michael Claassens the other day.

"Someone asked me for an autograph and said, 'hello Michael'. I went crazy, I couldn't believe it – I thought, 'how rude!'"

And being back in the side meant getting to grips with the game's Experimental Law Variations – law changes which, it appears, are giving centres like Crockett plenty of running to do.

"There's an awful lot of kicking at the moment – it's like ping-pong," he said.

"If we can remove the question marks over the breakdown area then I think we will see a bit more counter-attacking.

"But the centres are doing shuttles up and down the pitch at the moment – games feel like a bleep test a lot of the time!"

With Matt Banahan still ruled out by injury, goal-kicking winger Jack Cuthbert continues in the No 11 shirt today, while Shaun Berne replaces Eliota Fuimaono at inside centre.

Bath: N Abendanon; J Maddock, A Crockett, S Berne, J Cuthbert; B James, M Claassens; D Flatman, L Mears, M Stevens, J Harrison, P Short, S Hooper, M Lipman (capt), J Fa'amatuainu. Reps: P Dixon, D Bell, D Barnes, J Scaysbrook, S Bemand, E Fuimaono, M Stephenson.

Worcester: C Latham; C Pennell, D Rasmussen, S Tuitupou, M Benjamin; L Crichton, R Powell; M Mullan, A Lutui, T Taumoepeau, G Rawlinson (capt), C Gillies, K Horstmann, T Wood, N Talei. Reps: C Horsman, C Fortey, G Kitchener, M Cox, B Jones, J Carlisle, C Fellows.