Dean Ryan has never been particularly liberal when it comes to dishing out goodwill or praise – but he offered both to his under-fire former club after Gloucester returned to winning ways at the Memorial Stadium.

Ryan's Gloucester Rugby responded to their 42-12 drubbing at London Irish with a bonus-point victory in front of a festive derby crowd of 11,845.

But having held a 10-3 lead heading into the final 11 minutes, the former Bristol Rugby player and coach acknowledged that his old club have the stubbornness and backing to win their fight for Guinness Premiership survival.

They will head into 2009 three points behind another of Ryan's former employers, Newcastle, but with 12 Premiership matches still to play, the Gloucester head coach sees no reason why Bristol cannot beat the drop. But he feels the people of Bristol are going to have to play their part if Richard Hill is to guide his men out of the relegation zone over the next four months.

"It's tough for them – they are fighting a relegation battle early and it would be wrong to say anything else," said Ryan, whose current club are third in the table heading into the new year.

"But at the same time, they have got qualities which show they understand how to fight.

"If they can sit in that 10-3 scenario for a little bit longer with most sides then I think they will get some return from it.

"If they can get full houses at the Memorial Stadium, I think they will win some games. But they are all related – you can't just send a team out there and say, 'we want you to get off the bottom of the league'.

"You've got to get behind them – and when this place is charged it's as tough an away game as any in the Premiership.

"I wish them well and I hope they can stay fighting. And I hope people get behind them, because I think the combination of the two will make things a little bit easier."

Bristol were very much in the game until Mike Tindall picked a wonderful line to score the first of his two tries on 69 minutes – and it said plenty about Gloucester's extra energy that they conjured two further late tries to seal the bonus point.

The match started and ended with Gloucester on top – with very little else of note happening in between. Bristol had set out to repel the early Gloucester pressure and then work their way into the contest, but they were not afforded that luxury when Olly Morgan opened them up inside the opening four minutes.

The jinking run from the full-back was absolutely sublime, stepping his way past five defenders to open the scoring. But from a defensive viewpoint, Bristol head coach Hill was right to feel angry.

"It was a very good try – but he went through so many tackles," he said.

"The emphasis had been to get a good start. Gloucester, with their kicking game, love being in the lead – so you have got to get points ahead of them. So to go 7-0 down in the first four minutes was an absolute shocker."

Ed Barnes kicked Bristol back into contention at 7-3 when the visitors were penalised for holding onto the ball – but Ryan Lamb soon restored the seven-point advantage with a penalty of his own.

Gloucester looked the more dangerous side in attack – and they were unlucky not to add a second try when Olly Barkley and Morgan combined, only for David Lemi to snatch possession back in the nick of time.

Referee David Rose began to anger both benches – and a fair few of the spectators – for his management of the scrum and his failure to take action when Scott Linklater and Olivier Azam traded blows in front of his eyes.

When a yellow card was shown, it was to Bristol captain Shaun Perry for killing the ball – but Lamb sent the penalty off target, as he did another similar effort minutes later.

At 10-3 down, Bristol still had an opportunity to take something tangible from the match – but they wasted the opportunity to move within four points when Barnes was wide after a Gloucester man had handled at a ruck.

Luke Arscott's thumping hit on Luke Narraway summed up Bristol's determination – and for an obvious lack of attacking cut-and-thrust they were certainly committed. But minutes later, Tindall's vision brought a second Gloucester try to put them out of reach.

He ran an excellent line after some neat close-quarters play from his forwards – and raced through a gap to give Lamb a simple conversion for a 17-3 lead.

Gloucester knew they still had work to do, but after seeing out the next 10 minutes without taking too risks, they cut loose in the dying stages.

First Lesley Vainikolo went over wide on the left following Narraway's good work, before Gloucester's attempts to play from deep cost them, with Lemi picking up possession and flying past Tindall to score a fine solo effort.

The countdown clock was approaching zero when Tindall capped a captain's performance by adding his side's fourth try of the afternoon, twisting his way over from close range after Dave Lewis' quick tap penalty.

Bristol: L Arscott; L Robinson, Neil Brew, L Eves (Nathan Brew 65), D Lemi; E Barnes (A Jarvis 65), S Perry (capt); D Crompton, S Linklater (M Regan 41), J Hobson (M Irish 51), M Sambucetti (D Attwood 64), R Sidoli, N Budgett (J Phillips 64), A To'oala, D Ward-Smith. Rep not used: G Beveridge.

Scorers: Try – Lemi. Con – Jarvis. Pen – Barnes.

Sin-binned: Perry (39-48, killing the ball).

Gloucester: O Morgan; M Watkins, M Tindall (capt), O Barkley, L Vainikolo; R Lamb, R Lawson (D Lewis 51); N Wood (A Dickinson 78), O Azam (A Titterrell 80), C Nieto, W James (A Eustace 74), A Brown, A Strokosch, A Satala, L Narraway. Reps not used: M Bortolami, W Walker, M Foster.

Scorers: Tries – Morgan, Tindall (2), Vainikolo. Cons – Barkley, Lamb (2). Pen – Lamb.

Referee: D Rose. Att: 11,845.