Ulster emerged from a wintry Firhill Stadium empty-handed, falling to eightth place in the RaboDirect PRO12 table after a 17-9 defeat to a gritty Glasgow Warriors side.
Although eight first choice players were unavailable due to a combination of injuries, international player management regulations and personal commitments, Ulster head coach Brian McLaughlin was still able to field a competitive selection.
Adam D’Arcy returned at full-back, liberating Simon Danielli to resume his customary position on the left wing in the place of the rested Craig Gilroy.
In the pack Andi Kyriacou came in for Rory Best, who was also rested, while back rowers Robbie Diack and Willie Faloon took over from Stephen Ferris and Chris Henry.
Although Ulster made all the running in the opening five minutes, Glasgow managed to open the scoring thanks to an acutely-angled Duncan Weir penalty from the right.
Unruffled by this minor setback, Ulster continued to apply pressure deep in the hosts’ half and although no clear try-scoring opportunities were carved out, the feeling was that Glasgow were there for the taking.
A good break from the left and right wing tandem of Danielli and Andrew Trimble after 16 minutes looked promising until Glasgow scrum half Henry Pyrgos intervened with a try-saving tackle on Ulster’s own flying Scotsman Danielli.
Nevertheless, Ulster finally capitalised on their superior share of possession midway through the first half. They drew level courtesy of a penalty from Ian Humphreys, who shrugged off an earlier knock to his lower back to land the three points.
With parity restored, the visitors were unfortunate to be penalised in front of the posts six minutes later for an adjudged high tackle by Kyriacou, and the grateful Weir was on hand to kick his side back in front.
A further penalty for crossing, two minutes later, was duly dispatched by the Warriors’ promising young number 10, leaving Ulster 9-3 adrift when, realistically, they could have hoped to be ahead.
As the half drew to a close Ulster maintained their pressure deep in Glaswegian territory, and earned their reward in the dying moments with the award of a highly kickable penalty after a Warriors infringement on the home 22.
However, Humphreys’ effort spun wide of the left hand upright, and the province trotted off at half-time rueing their lack of penetration and ability to convert possession into points.
With Glasgow penalised seconds into the second half for illegally coming across the Ulster front row in an early scrum, Humphreys atoned for his pre-interval miss by kicking his side right back into contention.
But a D’Arcy knock on straight from the restart gave Glasgow a scrum deep in Ulster territory, and a powerful tackle from Faloon on Ryan Wilson was needed to stamp out the danger and force the knock on from Glasgow.
Poor organisation at the lineout, not for the first time in the encounter, blighted two more Ulster attacks until a further Glasgow indiscretion after 53 minutes enabled Humphreys to tie the game.
On the hour mark Ulster put together some excellent build-up play with Paul Marshall, D’Arcy and Nevin Spence all making valiant contributions to a promising break, before Dan Tuohy was penalised for holding onto the ball too long in the tackle.
Two errant long range penalty attempts from Humphreys came and went as the 70th minute approached, and those misses were to prove costly as, two minutes later, a rare Glasgow foray into the visitors’ half resulted in the game’s only try.
Having linked well with Glasgow debutant David Lemi, Troy Nathan, the former Connacht back, dived over in the left corner for what was effectively the match-winning score.
Weir’s missed conversion kept a glimmer of hope alive for Ulster with the deficit sitting at only five points.
The Scots intelligently counted down the remaining minutes with slow ball in the Ulster half, biding their time until they were able to craft a drop goal opening in the 79th minute. Weir executed the kick to perfection, nudging the losing bonus point out of Ulster’s grasp.
The defeat leaves Ulster smarting from five losses in nine league matches this term, and needing a much more positive result next Friday at home to the Scarlets to keep them in contention for a top four finish come the end of the season.
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