THERE was a mixture of pride for Glasgow and, arguably, prejudice against them as a much-changed side earned a losing bonus point at Parc y Scarlets last night, thanks to some sensational defence.

The pride came from a team who would not allow themselves to be put away despite being down to 13 men for a spell before half time, while the possible prejudice lay in the home crowd seeming to play a part in the two sin-binnings, of flanker Rob Harley and No 8 Ryan Wilson.

Both were debatable, while Glasgow were also unhappy about the Scarlets try scored with the last move of the first half, which was ultimately decisive but was also a possible double movement. For once there was no TV replay to consult.

With their numbers restored in the second half, Sean Lineen's men finished strongly and nearly pulled off what would have been a remarkable win, but in the end were relieved to kick a penalty out of play to secure the losing bonus point that kept them ahead of the Scarlets in the Rabo Direct table.

The visitors got their evening off to a perfect start. A break up the middle by flanker Chris Fusaro, supported by scrum-half Henry Pyrgos, seemed to have broken down following a loose pass in the backs.

However, a kick through brought a line-out near the Scarlets line which was stolen by the Glasgow forwards, allowing prop Moray Low to burrow through on the blindside and touch down. Ruaridh Jackson narrowly missed the conversion from out wide.

The hosts hit back with a couple of Rhys Priestland penalties before Glasgow suffered a double blow as they lost Jackson to a hamstring injury, with Low also limping off soon afterwards.

Priestland added another penalty to put the Scarlets ahead for the first time after Wilson was penalised for being offside as he intercepted a pass.

It was a close decision that could have resulted in a try the other end had it gone the other way – Irish referee Dudley Phillips did seem to have trouble blocking out the sound of the loud home crowd. Suddenly sin-binnings were like buses: you wait 35 minutes for one and then two come in a minute.

Harley saw yellow for a swinging arm in a tackle, then Wilson was sent to the bin for killing the ball in front of the posts – another borderline decision, as it was a yellow because of the position on the pitch rather than the offence itself.

The 13-man defence performed wonders, but gave away a stream of penalties in their desperation to get up quickly. It could not last and the Scarlets got their try with the final move of the half.

Glasgow opted for the uncontested scrum when they were left without a specialist tighthead as replacement Ed Kalman also went off injured and Gordon Reid had to take his place. Scarlets scrum-half Gareth Davies was able to get over and Priestland converted.

Glasgow were back up to full strength early in the second half and set about regaining the initiative as replacement No 10 Scott Wight landed a long-range penalty before sending second effort just wide.

Greater composure with handling in this period might have brought even greater reward. The Scarlets went close when Wales wing George North was just bundled into touch by a desperate defence.

Glasgow had a try disallowed when right wing Tommy Seymour was put into space and regathered his own kick ahead, but he put a foot in touch before getting the inside pass away to fellow wing David Lemi.

However, Wight did narrow the gap to two points with another penalty when home scrum-half Rhodri Williams kicked the ball away to prevent a quick line-out.

Both sides had decisions to make in terms of whether to go for broke or not and both had further pressure but there was no more scoring and in the end both were happy to take something from the match.

Scarlets: DNewton; (S Jones 53) G North, S Williams, J Davies,S Lamont (V Longi 45); R Priestland, G Davies (R Williams 45); I Thomas (R Jones 57), M Rees (Capt, K Owens 57), D Manu (R Thomas 57), L Reed, D Day (A Shingler 63), R McCusker, J Edwards(J BTurnbull 70), B Morgan.

Glasgow: P Murchie; T Seymour, R Dewey (A Dunbar 59), G Morrison (Capt), D Lemi; R Jackson (S Wight 13), H Pyrgos (M McConnell 75); J Welsh (G Reid 59), F Thomson (F Gillies 59), M Low (E Kalman 27, G Reid 40-44), R Verbakel, T Ryder, R Harley, C Fusaro (C Forrester 59), R Wilson (J Beattie 59).

Referee: D Phillips (IRFU). Attendance: 9,869.