Scarlets replacement scrum-half Gareth Davies was sent off as Edinburgh earned a valuable 26-15 Guinness PRO12 victory at Parc y Scarlets to boost their hopes of a top six finish.

Davies, who came on in Wales' Six Nations win in Italy last weekend, saw red from referee John Lacey on 60 minutes for a head butt on Andries Strauss, an incident which was reviewed by TV match official Derek Bevan.

Edinburgh's victory came thanks to tries for Phil Burleigh and Dave Denton with man of the match Sam Hidalgo-Clyne kicking 16 points. All of Scarlets' points came from Steve Shingler's five first-half penalties.

It was Edinburgh's first win over the Scarlets for three years - a run of 13 matches - and moved them above the Welsh region to seventh in the overall standings.

Scarlets welcomed back Wales quartet Scott Williams, Rob Evans, Ken Owens and Jake Ball, but Liam Williams missed out with a bruised thigh. Edinburgh included Scotland trio Hidalgo-Clyne, Greig Tonks and Tim Visser,

Scarlets set the tone when they earned a penalty inside 20 seconds from the kick-off, which Shingler kicked from in front of the posts.

But Edinburgh fought back with a well-worked try after a period of very scrappy play. Centre Burleigh crossed after some good passing with Visser. Hidalgo-Clyne added the extras as the Scots led 7-3 on nine minutes.

But after that Edinburgh found themselves on the back foot as the penalties racked up. In blustery conditions Shingler, who was also lively in broken play, put over penalties on 12, 18, 23 and 26 minutes.

The 26th minute penalty came as Tonks was sent to the sin bin for holding on to a player at a ruck as Lacey's patience ran out with Edinburgh.

But down to 14 men Edinburgh enjoyed a purple patch, although flanker Hamish Watson twice got over the line but failed to get the ball over line.

However, the Scots finished the half strongly, helped after number eight John Barclay was shown a yellow card.

First Hidalgo-Clyne put over a penalty and in the final minute of the half, number eight Denton squeezed over for the second try. Hidalgo-Clyne's conversion gave Edinburgh a two-point lead at the break.

Scarlets were not helped when Scott Williams and George Earle went off injured just before the interval.

The third quarter proved scoreless but in the 60th minute Davies was sent off. The red card led to the first points of the second half with Hidalgo-Clyne's successful penalty extending Edinburgh's lead to five points.

And six minutes from time another penalty from Hidalgo-Clyne took Scarlets out of losing bonus point range. At the restart, replacement Michael Tagicakibau was taken off the field on a stretcher after a mid-air collision.

A minute from time, Hidalgo-Clyne put over a fourth penalty to wrap up the win for Edinburgh.