A WIN for Glasgow, and it keeps them in second place in the Guinness PRO12, but on a foul night for rugby, it was a scrappy, messy game where Glasgow were just happy to come away with the points.

They did have the satisfaction of scoring the only try of the game but it says it all that they could not pull clear until Albert Anea, the replacement Treviso prop, was sent off for throwing a punch late in the game.

"We scored a cracking try, a fantastic try, a cracker, and there was another time we were away as well - there was a game in there trying to break out, but as the conditions turned even worse, we struggled," admitted Gregor Townsend, the Glasgow coach afterwards.

"We did not play at our best but conditions were a massive factor, the opposition as well. When I saw so many Italian players had been released back, I knew it was going to be a tough game. They are very strong at the breakdown so the conditions suited them, it became a real battle zone.

"We have to get better when we play in poor conditions, we have to secure the ball and keep it better. We are really happy with the squad we have got, but the weather does change things, there were never going to be many tries. You have to make sure you don't give the opposition easy ways into the game, which we did a couple of times, but we learned."

To be far to them all, it was a makeshift Glasgow side missing 16 players preparing for Scotland duty and their captain, Al Kellock, getting ready to lead the Barbarians at Twickenham this afternoon. The shortage of key players was quickly brought home to the fans when Peter Horne, the fly half, was pressed into service as the emergency Glasgow goalkicker, and promptly made a mess of his opening chance to edge his side in front.

If they get it right, Glasgow can score glorious tries and a loose kick gave them the chance with DTH van er Merwe running back a loose kick, great handling from Leone Nakarawa and Josh Strauss putting Horne away with Peter Murchie, the full back, adding the support run to send Niko Matawalu in to finish with his usual flourish.

A 70 yard try with six players handling as the ball swept up the field, it was Glasgow at their best, it was also just about the only time they managed to string so many passes together.

Inevitably, as the game wore on and the stalemate grew stronger, both sides switched to a more tactical game plan a and the first half ended with just that try separating the sides as Horne and Jayden Hayward, the Treviso full back, matched each other's goalkicking with two penalties apiece.

The Italians started the second half strongly and soon edged closer with Hayward adding his third kick and he could have nudged his side in front but his mid-range effort drifted left of the posts. Still, it was a warning for Glasgow who had turned down kickable penalties to go for tries only to mess up the driving line outs they set up.

Glasgow had edged back to a five point lead with Horne's third penalty before Anae's fury got the better of him, though it tells you everything you need to know about the game and the Italian approach that when they had to sacrifice a player to bring on a replacement prop, it was a wing who was deemed surplus to requirements.

With 14 men for the final period, though, there was no way back and Horne made sure they did not even get a losing bonus point with his fourth penalty late in the game to seal the win for his side.

For all that, the players know improvements are needed: "In the end when it got to 11-9 we did the right things and ground out the win," was the verdict from Richie Vernon, playing his first match back after recovering from an Achilles tendon injury. "We are happy with that, it was a slippy night and a slippy ball.

"It is important that we learn how to play in those conditions as well and for a time we just could not get going, couldn't get into our game, kept losing theball. We are aware we have a lot to work on but are happy to get a win against a tough Treviso side."