Connacht claimed a precious home win over Edinburgh as they lifted themselves off the bottom of the RaboDirect PRO12 table.
But they had to do it the hard way against Edinburgh, whose last two league ties were postponed due to bad weather.
Roddy Grant's first try of the season was replied to by a Craig Ronaldson penalty, but the Connacht out-half missed his next three place kicks as Edinburgh led 7-3 at half time.
But Michael Swift, Connacht's most-capped player, plunged over in the 47th minute and Dan Parks came off the bench to kick the clinching penalty.
The westerners were unable to capitalise on their early possession and it was the visitors who swept into a seventh-minute lead, with Grant driven over following a quick ruck recycle.
Nick De Luca's break up to the hosts' 22 did the initial damage and Grant had good support as he touched down from close range. South African newcomer Carl Bezuidenhout added the conversion.
Kieran Marmion threatened for Connacht before they opened their account midway through the half, winning a penalty at an Edinburgh scrum which Ronaldson stuck over.
With a lack of line-breaks and serious try-scoring threats, there was little spark shown by either side approaching the break and Ronaldson's series of missed kicks did little for his or the home fans' confidence levels.
Edinburgh had the wind at their backs in the second period, but it was Connacht who lifted the intensity and accuracy of their play on the resumption. Eoin Griffin provided the momentum with a rare line break and Cornell du Preez's sin-binning - five metres out from the Edinburgh line - gave Connacht the impetus to take the lead.
The Scots' brave defence finally relented as second row Swift crossed near the posts after a series of pick and drives. Ronaldson's kicking woes continued, though, as he hit the post with the conversion.
Bezuidenhout missed a 51st-minute penalty and, with their error count rising, Edinburgh's frustrations only grew. Connacht took control as the second-half wore on, with man-of-the-match Ronan Loughney a prominent figure up front, and Parks' drilled penalty in the 68th minute enough to settle the issue.
Connacht: Henshaw, Carr, E. Griffin, McSharry, O'Halloran, Ronaldson, Marmion, Buckley, Harris-Wright, Ah You, Kearney, Swift, Browne, Heenan, Muldoon. Replacements: Heffernan, Loughney, Cooney, Muldowney, Naoupu, O'Donohoe, Parks, D. Leader.
Edinburgh: Cuthbert, Fife, De Luca, Strauss, Brown, Bezuidenhout, Hart, Blaauw, Hilterbrand, Nel, Gilchrist, van der Westhuizen, Coman, Grant, Du Preez. Replacements: Ford, Allan, Cross, Atkins, Leonardi, Hidalgo-Clyne, Beard, Leonard.
Referee: C Blessano (Italy).
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article