London Welsh lock Martin Purdy admits it was a fantastic feeling to get one over former club Bath last weekend, after his side secured a dramatic 16-9 win at the Kassam Stadium.
 

Stephen Donald’s three penalties meant Bath were 9-6 ahead with just two minutes remaining, but Nick Scott scored a 40-metre interception try to give Welsh their third Aviva Premiership win after Gordon Ross had levelled things up.
 

And having spent one season at the Rec, Purdy was ecstatic that his new Exiles side managed to edge past Gary Gold’s men.
 

“It was a great win for us as a team to beat Bath, and especially for me to be involved was a wonderful feeling having played for them in the past,” admitted the 31-year-old.
 

“It was always going to be a case of trying to stop them from playing because they’re a good outfit, that was our main aim.
 

“Even though it was fantastic to come out of such a tight game with a win there are plenty of things we can still work on.
 

“We are going in the right direction though and we’ve got three wins up in the Premiership now which is great.
 

“If you had given that to us at the start of the season we would have taken that.
 

“Our defence is getting better and the new boys in the squad are gelling well, and hopefully we can build from here.”
 

And following their promotion to the Aviva Premiership for the first time in the club’s history, many expected Lyn Jones’ men to be favourites for the drop.
 

But aside from their first two games, 38-13 and 40-3 defeats, the Oxford-based side have bounced back well, and Purdy insists they are worthy of top-flight status.
 

“We have been competitive every single week apart from those first two games against Leicester and Harlequins where we got absolutely dominated,” he added.
 

“We could have beaten Wasps the week before last although things didn’t go our way, but we’re getting better. We deserve to be here.”
 

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