Rory Best and Ireland centre Kevin Maggs congratulate each other after a bruising encounter with Sarries. The result - Ulster's 14th successive Heineken Cup victory at Ravenhill - sent Mark McCall's side to the top of Pool Four. Ulster lie just a single point ahead of Sarries ahead of next Saturday's return match at Vicarage Road.

Ulster lock Matt McCullough is tackled by Saracens and former England scrum-half Kyran Bracken.

Young Ulster centre Andrew Trimble tries to get past Saracens full-back Dan Scarbrough with fly-half David Humphreys in close support.

Tommy Bowe takes a tumble as he is tackled by Sarries' French international Thomas Castaignede (right). The Gallic centre was sin-binned by his countryman, referee Eric Darriere on 71 minutes for a deliberate knock-on.

Andrew Trimble kicks a loose ball ahead at Ravenhill. Afterwards, Ulster coach Mark McCall, in summing up a thrilling evening, said: "It was always going to be close. We were delighted to be just 7-3 down at half-time. In the second half we certainly stepped up our performance and we are delighted to have won and know we can certainly play a lot better than that. It's a huge game for us next week.

"I thought we stepped up our game in all departments in the second half and we played very effectively and kept our composure."

**All photos by Andrew Paton of Inpho Photography**