Full-time: Glasgow 19 Bath 25. Bath came back from the brink to claim what could prove to be a crucial bonus-point victory in their Heineken Cup Pool Five clash at Firhill.

Two tries from Matt Banahan and one apiece from Shaun Berne and Joe Maddock gave Steve Meehan's men a hard-fought victory over a resilient Glasgow side.

But Bath, as they had in beating Glasgow 35-31 at the Rec a week earlier, made hard work of keeping the pressure on pool leaders Toulouse.

They trailed 13-8, 16-13 and 19-18 en route to claiming their third straight pool victory since defeat in France on the opening weekend.

And while their performance, particularly in the first half, was not as polished as it could have been, the outcome was ideal for Meehan and his men, who now trail Toulouse by just two pool points with two matches to play.

Bath went in at the break 13-8 down after making a host of basic errors during a first half which saw them playing more on the back foot than the front.

James kicked them in front with a penalty after they had kept the ball for almost 90 seconds after Banahan's excellent take from the kick-off.

Glasgow soon drew level through a Dan Parks penalty, before Banahan scored the first try of the match to restore Bath's lead.

The visitors kicked a penalty to touch, won the line-out and worked through a couple of phases before James kicked to the wing, where Banahan – under pressure from Lome Fa'atau – did well to gather before diving over.

James missed the conversion – and two minutes later, Bath were 10-8 down after his error.

Bath won scrum ball, but when Michael Claassens passed to James, he dropped the ball at the feet of opposition scrum-half Colin Gregor.

Gregor kicked ahead, won the race to the ball and dived over, with Parks landing the conversion.

The fly-half then landed a penalty to increase his side's lead to 13-8 as Bath continued to make the uncharacteristic mistakes that undermined their first-half effort.

The visitors made a positive start to the second period, adding their second try within nine minutes of the restart.

Claassens' quick tap penalty and break set the tone, before Bath set up camp on the Glasgow line, eventually switching the ball wide via Banahan, James, Nick Abendanon and Berne, who scored out wide.

The try drew Bath level at 13-13 but James missed the penalty – and a further Parks penalty, when a Bath man was deemed to have handled at a ruck, put the hosts back in front.

Bath hit back with a third try, though, Banahan crossing for his second of the afternoon after they had won line-out ball on the right wing and switched play to the left via the hands of Eliota Fuimaono and Abendanon.

Again James failed with the conversion – his third miss of the afternoon – but Bath had the lead at 18-16.

But once again they failed to keep their lead, falling 19-18 behind when replacement Ruaridh Jackson landed a 40-metre penalty after James had been penalised for a high tackle.

Bath then twice undid their good work in the Glasgow 22, knocking on when promising positions beckoned.

But they finally broke through to retake the lead and secure their try-scoring bonus point with seven minutes left on the clock.

From a scrum deep in Glasgow territory, James, Fuimaono and Lee Mears all played their part, before Banahan popped out a spectacular pass to Maddock, who stepped inside to score. James converted to give Bath a 25-19 lead.

And despite a frantic finale, with Glasgow pressing until the very end, Bath held on to take the five points they had coveted.

Glasgow Warriors: B Stortoni; L Fa'atau (J-M Nunez Piossek 32), M Evans, A Henderson, H O'Hare; D Parks (capt; R Jackson 62), C Gregor (S Pinder 62); J Va'a (M Low 64), F Thomson (E Milligan 62), M Low (K Tkachuk 41), T Barker, D Turner, K Brown, J Barclay, J Beattie. Reps not used: O Palepoi, C Forrester.

Scorers: Try – Gregor. Con – Parks. Pens – Parks (3), Jackson.

Bath: N Abendanon; J Maddock, S Berne (A Crockett 59), E Fuimaono, M Banahan; B James, M Claassens; D Barnes, P Dixon (L Mears 50), M Stevens (D Bell 76), J Harrison (S Hooper 70), D Grewcock, A Beattie (J Fa'amatuainu 58), M Lipman (capt), D Browne. Reps not used: S Bemand, J Cuthbert.

Scorers: Tries – Banahan (2), Berne, Maddock. Con – James. Pen – James.

Referee: C Berdos (France). Att: 3,306.