Bath 15 Wasps 17

Bath scored a try in the 20th minute of injury-time – but Ryan Davis missed the conversion that would have tied the scores in this penalty-ridden Guinness Premiership clash.

It was breathless stuff for the final 10 minutes as Bath – playing in front of a record Rec crowd of 11,300 – tried every conceivable route to unlock the Wasps' defence and force a draw.

But they eventually had to settle for a solitary losing bonus point, rather than the two that would have come from a tie, despite No 8 Ben Skirving's last-gasp try.Bath head coach Steve Meehan was unimpressed at referee Chris White's decision not to penalise the Wasps players for apparently attempting to distract Davis during his crucial last-minute conversion attempt, which went wide. The visitors could be heard shouting as Davis began his run-up.

"It was certainly something that I heard about as our guys were stretching and cooling down after the game," said Meehan. "When I asked the official he said it was the crowd. I think everyone else understands that it wasn't."

Although an improvement on the performance that saw Bath lose 24-5 at Gloucester last week, this was another match that left Meehan scratching his head and bemoaning his players' mental application following the final whistle.

Bath have a strong case for feeling aggrieved that they were not awarded a penalty try midway through the second half, when Wasps were penalised three times at the scrum on their own five-metre line. Loosehead prop Tim Payne was sin-binned by Chris White for repeated infringements, and later sent off for another yellow-card offence, but the referee did not award the penalty try that the home crowd was baying for.

It may have been a game with 40 penalties, but it was at times free-flowing, with the excellent Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson making a number of piercing breaks that set his backs in motion.

But when Bath shipped it down their back-line the ball was invariably fumbled – a tale that those Bath fans who made the trip to Kingsholm for the defeat by Gloucester last weekend will be familiar with.

Despite taking the lead early on through skipper Michael Claassens, Bath were beaten out wide in the first half, with Tom Varndell bagging two tries and former Bristol wing David Lemi getting in on the act just before half-time. The home pack turned the screw on the visitors midway through the half with some muscular scrummaging on the Wasps five-metre line. Tim Payne was yellow-carded for infringing, but at the next scrum the men in black and yellow put on a shove and cleared their lines.

Still Bath pushed for the converted try that would bring them level. Matt Banahan crossed the whitewash in the 70th minute following another Claassens tap penalty, but referee Chris White blew for a knock-on. Five minutes later another chance went begging as Davis fumbled a pass from wing Joe Maddock following some initially deft passing by the duo.

Payne was sent off for a second yellow card as Wasps repeatedly infringed at the breakdown and Bath, with the countdown clock having reached zero, set up stall 10 yards from the Wasps line.

Payne was red-carded as Wasps repeatedly infringed at the breakdown, and Bath finally touched down just inside the right corner.

Skirving emerged with the ball from underneath a mass of bodies. Davis had the chance to level with the conversion, but it was not to be.

The crowd eventually quietened down for Davis' crucial conversion attempt – but the Wasps players didn't. There were some unsporting yells as the visitors attempted to charge down the fly-half's ultimately wayward wayward shot at the posts, but referee White deemed there to have been no infraction.