ONE of the strengths of Glasgow Warriors when they won the Guinness PRO12 a couple of seasons ago was their strength in depth. It is something they have struggled with this season but there were hints here that they might be getting some of that back.

Remember they had made 11 changes in personnel from the side that beat Edinburgh, plus a positional switch, and still had the power on the bench for players to come on and rescue a win they had looked like throwing away. Two of the replacements were involved in the winning try five minutes from time after Glasgow had given away the lead they had built up.

In the end the positional switch also proved vital, with Stuart Hogg stepping up from his usual role of full back to fill in at fly half. Not, he emphasised later, that he sees this as a full-time career move, but knowing he can cover the position does give him and his coaches extra options.

"I felt it went all right," he said. "It’s not my first position, it’s different, but you’ve got to adapt and the communication from guys around me was outstanding, which helps. I felt I was a wee bit rusty at times but I was happy to get a wee shot at ten.

"In the last three or four games I’ve been covering ten, but nothing happened to Finn [Russell, who had started there], so I wasn’t needed.

"If you are covering then it’s good to have some confidence that you can do the job. I’m aware of the structure and the plays we’re trying to do, so it made sense from that point of view. I just tried to do my best for the guys around me and the team."

In the end, his biggest contribution was kind of try he might have scored regardless of where he was supposed to be playing and the more unusual feat of a perfect kicking record with all five conversions of the Glasgow tries.

Against a determined defence that closed Glasgow down quickly and flooded the breakdown to make sure there was no quick ball, he did not get the chance to attack but he was obviously satisfied with a job well done.

The reality is that Glasgow showed the same clinical finishing strength that had brought a radically different set of players victory in Edinburgh earlier in the week and should have been out of sight long before the bench rescued them.

Despite conceding a try in the first minute, they seemed to have taken control of the game when Hogg put then in front, Tommy Seymour finished a superb break from Peter Murchie and Adam Ashe had crashed over wide on the right.

The problem was, their mistakes were costing them. They did not seem to be able to do anything right for the young Italian referee Elia Rizzo – a late replacement when the Welsh official originally listed got ill – and got the worse of a 12-3 penalty count.

Gregor Townsend, the head coach, was unimpressed. His side, he pointed out, had dominated both territory and possession but seemed to be penalised for it. That may have been questionable but they also got lucky with the Treviso kickers missing three easy shots to add to the three penalties they did get.

Nor was there any blaming the officials for the passes that missed their target and the blunder that allowed Dean Budd, the lock, to pounce on the ball dropped behind the Glasgow line. They were wholly Glasgow's own fault.

Nick Grigg did force his way over for the bonus point try but Glasgow found themselves under the cosh for long periods of the second half and Budd drove over for his second to level the scores with seven minutes left.

"It shows the character we have that we did stick at it," said Hogg. "As they kept coming back and then levelled you get into a period where you could think it isn’t going to be your day, but I don’t think we were ever going to let it go..

"We stuck to it, kept working for each other and we got the reward with a lovely break by Sean [Lamont] and Tommy {Seymour], and Rory [Clegg] finishing it off.

"That also shows the benefit of a good squad. We knew we had a strong bench. Boys know when they play that they can empty themselves, because we have good quality boys who can come on and finish the job.

"We were too keen at times, maybe, getting a bit flat in our structure and that led to knocking ball on or making mistakes at the breakdown. We saw that on the pitch and just said to ourselves to learn from the mistakes and keep holding our depth, fire into them hard, and carry hard. When we did that we created chances and scored some good tries."

That final flourish sent them into the New Year with a surge of confidence, with four consecutive wins but some season-defining games to come.

"These are exciting times for the club," added Hogg. "We’re in a good place heading into the New Year, plenty to work on but plenty to take confidence from too.

"There are always lessons in pro sport and we’ve come home with more, but that’s what the game is about – learning lessons, using them to improve and pushing on. Building on this win is all we’re thinking about now as we start to prepare again for Cardiff coming to Scotstoun [on Saturday].

"This time we just got there, but it says a lot for our character that we made mistakes, let them in and still managed to come away with a bonus-point win."

Benetton Treviso: Tries: Sperandio (1 min), Budd 2 (32, 73). Cons: Allan, McKinley. Pens: Allan 2 (40, 48), McKinley (61).

Glasgow Warriors: Tries: Hogg (15 mins), Seymour (17), Ashe (28), Grigg (50), Clegg (75). Cons: Hogg (5)

Scoring sequence (Benetton Treviso first): 5-0, 5-7, 5-14, 5-21, 12-21, 15-21 (half time), 18-21, 18-28, 21-28, 28-28, 28-35.

Benetton Treviso: L McLean; A Esposito, T Benvenuti, L Morisi (rep: T Iannone, 61), L Sperandio; T Allan (rep: I McKinley, 52), G Bronzini (rep: E Gori, 64); A De Marchi (rep: F Zani, 52), D Giazzon (rep: R Santamaria, 76), M Zanusso (rep: T Pasquali, 56), M Fuser, D Budd, R Barbieri (rep: T Paulo, 61), A Steyn, M Barbini (rep: M Lazzaroni, 47).

Glasgow Warriors: P Murchie; J Bulumakau (rep: S Lamont, 57), N Grigg (rep: R Clegg, 72), S Johnson, T Seymour; S Hogg, H Pyrgos (C) (rep: N Kenatale, 77); G Reid (rep: A Allan, 63), P MacArthur (rep: C Flynn, 63), D Rae (rep: Z Fagerson, 57), T Swinson, B Alainu’uese (rep: R Harley, 48), A Ashe, C Fusaro (rep: S Favaro, 57), R Wilson.

Referee: E Rizzo (Italy)