Glasgow Warriors have now won five in a row in all competitions after a dramatic last minute victory over Bath Rugby at Firhill in their opening pool match of the Heineken Cup.
It took until the 80th minute and a decision by the TMO for Warriors to clinch the points but now three English Premiership sides in a row have been sent home with a defeat.
Coach Sean Lineen said: "This is a good place to be, we have young, talented players who take real pride in wearing the Warriors jersey."
Duncan Weir, in his first start in the Heinken Cup, was named Heineken Man of the Match after slotting four penalties and two conversions.  Glasgow now look to Leinster next weekend to continue an outstanding run of victories. They have, of course, already tasted victory in the RDS this season, having beaten the Dublin side in the RaboDirect PRO12.
Lineen, catching his breath after a remarkable finish, said: "It was a really big game for Dunc but he's developing a great partnership with Chris Cusiter.  I also thought Rob Harley was outstanding.  There is a new ethos here, young players keen to do well and show the crowd what they can do, and the crowd today was fantastic. 
"In previous years playing away we'd have a big crowd trying to upset our line-out calls but now it's us doing that, the crowd at Firhill has become a 16th man.
"Going to Leinster doesn't hold any fear for us, we've beaten them there already this season, we're looking forward to it."
Warriors now top Pool 3 after the last-gasp victory.
It took just a minute for Bath to register the first points, young fly-half THeathcote slotting over a penalty after a high tackle just outside the Glasgow 22.  From the restart though, Warriors struck back with Bath called offside at a ruck on their own 10 metre line.  Weir slotted home confidently to level up the scores at 3-3.
Glasgow were taking their time to find their feet and Bath began to exert some early pressure, the right winger Olly Woodburn looking dangerous in attack. Good drift defence from the Warriors though meant Bath were largely going sideways and neither side looking threatening as the game became a battle for midfield.
It was Bath who edged ahead again through the boot of Heathcote - Glasgow deemed to have collapsed a scrum on half-way. The 19 year old put a solid boot through it and put the English premiership team ahead, 6-3 after 16 minutes.
Weir tried to gain parity with a monster penalty effort after Bath went offside at a ruck, fully 55 metres out but the kick fell just short.  
Bath gave away a series of penalties as Glasgow began to knock the visitors backwards, Rob Harley and Richie Gray putting in some bone-shuddering tackles.  As Bath backpedalled, there were hands in the ruck and Weir was again in a position to level the scores, slotting over from the 22 and straight in front of the posts. 6-6 with 34 minutes on the clock.
The game, which had yet to properly burst into life, got the spark it needed as a bit of needle got into the game and the referee had to step into to calm the atmosphere.  Again Bath were penalised at ruck and Weir calmly slotted home from the 10 metre line to give Glasgow the lead at half time, 9-6.
Into the second half and Warriors were given another chance to stretch the lead, Bath penalised for collapsing the scrum, but Weir's effort slid past the right hand post. Three minutes later, Bath were back on level terms, Heathcote with another long effort which sailed between the sticks, to make the score 9-9.
Bath subjected the Glasgow Warriors defence to long stretches of pressure which coach Sean Lineen said was a fantastic example of drift defence.
"We defended and defended and defended. I'm really pleased we stuck to the task, we could have done some things a lot better but our drift defence was simply outstanding."
Bath went back ahead with another Heathcote penalty on 56 minutes but the the match was lit up by the first try of the game and it was a classic piece of opportunism by Stuart Hogg to touchdown on 59 minutes.  Rob Harley offered a dummy run on the right hand side of a ruck, Troy Nathan went into contact but managed to off-load to Hogg.  Within moments his quick feet had found the gap in the Bath lines and he skipped through from 20 metres. Weir converting made the score 16-12 in Glasgow's favour.
Loosehead prop Ryan Grant was getting through a power of work in the loose but was harshly penalised by the referee for not releasing in the tackle, the Firhill crowd vented their frustration at the decision.  Heathcote again brought Bath back with touching distance with a penalty from inside the Glasgow 10 metre line. 16-15 to Glasgow with less than 20 minutes on the clock.
Five minutes later the Warriors fell behind as the thousands at Firhill began to look nervously at their watches.  Another penalty from the right hand side, 40 metres out, was converted by Heathcote to give the visitors the lead.  That was his last piece of action though as World Cup All Black  Stephen Donald came on for Bath to make his debut.  His first piece of action drew jeers from the crowd though as he chipped behind the Glasgow defence only to see the ball roll through the dead ball area and present a scrum to Warriors on half-way.
Even with 74 minutes on the clock there was little to hint at the drama to come. A good break from the base of a scrum from Chris Cusiter was the impetus for a darting run by Weir and when the ball reached the breakdown it was Bath penalised. Weir slotted home the resultant penalty to put Warriors back in the lead, 19-18 with just five minutes left. 
But it was the visitors who looked to be heading home with the win after the Glasgow scrum was deemed to have been collapsed deliberately in their own half - it was Donald who made the penalty, 21-19 to Bath with just a few minutes to go.
Glasgow weren't done yet as the crowd was in full voice, Warriors winning the restart and beginning the process of recycling ball phase after phase. 
Warriors tried to build a platform for Weir to drop goal in the dying seconds and he looked too far back to make it. His drop-goal attempt was half charged down and it was Richie Gray and the relentless Harley who were chasing after the spinning ball.
The bounce defeated Bath full back Abdendanon and it was Gray who grabbed the ball and stretched over between the posts to a by now delirious Firhill crowd.  A TMO decision was pending but the crowd was confident and a great roar went up as the try was confirmed. Weir slotted the extra points as the referee brought to and end what turned out to be a breathless encounter in the autumn sunshine.
Heineken Man of the Match: Ducan Weir (Glasgow Warriors)
Glasgow Warriors: S Hogg; T Seymour, R Dewey, G Morrison, C Shaw; D Weir, C Cusiter; R Grant, P MacArthur, M Cusack, R Gray, A Kellock (c), R Harley, J Barclay, R Wilson
Substitutes: D Hall, G Reid, E Kalman, T Ryder, C Fusaro, H Pyrgos, T Nathan, F Aramburu
Bath Rugby: N Abendanon; O Woodburn, D Hipkiss, S Vesty, T Biggs; T Heathcote, M Claasens; D Flatman, R Batty, D Wilson, S Hooper (c), R Caldwell, F Louw, G Mercer, S Taylor

This article was posted on 13-Nov-2011, 16:31 by Hugh Barrow.