As the Leeds director of rugby Phil Davies nursed his post-match pint, he admitted he would have preferred something a little stronger.
His Tykes side eventually did get their first home league win in nine months but not until a resurgent Worcester had used every second of eight minutes' stoppage-time threatening to extend that miserable Headingley record.
Leeds had opened up a 24-12 lead by the 52nd minute and felt confident enough to ease Iain Balshaw into a belated club debut after his groin injury but, when Worcester's on-trial replacement Sione Kepu trundled across in the 78th minute, they had to hang on nervously.
"Towards the end of the game it was just a sign of a team needing a little bit more belief and confidence to close games out," said Davies, confident that the win was a sign of his side's improved form this year.
They looked at their best early in the game, running Worcester hard until a short pass from Alix Popham found room for Tom Biggs, the wing who was a cinema usher and pea factory worker until a month ago, to dart down the blindside eight minutes in.
Worcester, however, scored twice in five minutes, with another Leeds try sandwiched between, to draw level at 12-12. They forced a turnover from a tentative Tim Stimpson and Pat Sanderson's long pass put in the impressive Ben Hinshelwood.
Leeds rapidly replied, Jon Dunbar stepping off a ruck and through an undermanned Worcester right side for a soft try but Worcester quickly headed back down the Leeds left and Thomas Lombard shot through a trailing defence.
Gordon Ross kicked the first of four steadying penalties for the Tykes but after the game Worcester identified a touch judge's call that disallowed a try by Ben Daly as the crucial moment of the match. It meant that Leeds led 18-12 at half-time with Ross's second penalty, and the other two followed to push them 12 points ahead.
After half-time Balshaw left Kepu trailing with one surge, but was then dumped unceremoniously into touch by Thinus Delport and fended aside by Hinshelwood as Worcester pressed.
The visitors secured a point when Kepu, an on-trial Aucklander reputedly related to Jonah Lomu, trundled over. He certainly had the look of Lomu when the ball stuck but often it did not, and he also bombed a chance which was just as crucial as that first-half decision.
Keast was not pleased to take away one point instead of five but said it still kept his side - who 30 months ago were being beaten to Premiership promotion here by Leeds - ahead of their pre-season schedule for securing safety.
Asked if their impressive form might have the rest of the Premiership worried that one of their usual number might go down, he reflected: "If that's the case, it's a compliment to our players, and they deserve that for the hard work they have put in."
Davies could certainly have used that brandy.
Leeds: Stimpson; Rees (Balshaw, 61), Bell, Snyman, Biggs; Ross, Dickens; Shelley, Regan, Kerr (Holt, 78); Hooper, Murphy, Dunbar, Hyde, Popham.
Tries: Biggs, Dunbar. Con: Ross. Pens: Ross 4.
Worcester: Delport; Gollings (Kepu, 61), Rasmussen, Lombard, Hinshelwood; Brown, Powell (Stuart-Smith, 61); Windo (Sparks, 52), Daly (Van Niekerk, 63), Lyman (Fortey, 78), Collier (Vaili, 52), Gillies, Gabey, Sanderson, Hickey.
Tries: Hinshelwood, Lombard, Kepu.
Cons: Brown 2
Referee: A Rowden (Somerset).
Attendance: 5,207.
