Hopes of the RaboDirect Pro12 Grand Final coming to Scotland for the first time looked to be in tatters last night after Glasgow Warriors surrendered lamely to Welsh side Scarlets.

Some had expected the hosts to be demoralised by the news that talismanic winger George North is to join Northampton Saints, but instead they looked the hungrier team at Parc y Scarlets to keep themselves in the hunt for a play-off place.

The mood in West Wales was summed up by a turnout of fewer than 7000 for this vital game, with more than twice that number having attended their early season meeting with the Ospreys.

However, such gloom had clearly not been transmitted to Scarlet's players, whose performance was in stark contrast to the woeful display by Gregor Townsend's side. Glasgow began the night leading the race for places in the Pro12 play-offs, but now face a real scramble to secure the top-four finish that will get them into the semi-finals.

Glasgow began brightly enough when Sean Maitland made ground in the middle of the pitch, before John Barclay probed down the left only for Henry Pyrgos' kick to prove too long. That allowed Aled Davies to tidy up before DTH van der Merwe could apply real pressure.

However, the response was instant and offered a reminder of the threat the home team poses out wide, as Owen Williams cleverly passed the ball behind Scott Williams to release Jonathan Davies. The Wales centre carried the ball some 20 metres into Glasgow territory, where Barclay was penalised at the ruck to allow stand-off Williams to open the scoring with a fine strike from more than 40 metres out.

The importance of the play-makers in setting the tone for their team was summed up soon after when Ruaridh Jackson put his side under pressure. He had a punt charged down by Ken Owens deep in his own half, whereas Williams provided his team with great field position with a raking touch-finder. It was a kick which prompted a call from the stands of: "He'll be a bigger loss than George North."

Amid all the hoopla surrounding the imminent departure of today's birthday boy to Northampton Saints, relatively less attention has been paid to the fact that the winger's fellow 21-year-old is Leicester-bound, a further indication of their financial woes. The assured Williams duly doubled the lead with another well-struck penalty from wide on the left after 12 minutes as his side pinned Glasgow in their own half.

The pressure then truly told when Ken Owens, Scarlet's dynamic hooker, blasted his way into the Glasgow 22 and the pack arrived in numbers to keep it tight, working their way into range with a succession of rucks before Owens finished what he started by worming his way over.

Williams converted and landed a neatly-taken drop goal after Jackson had finally got Glasgow on to the scoreboard, Owens the culprit this time after killing the ball at a ruck.

The hooker's front-row colleague, Samson Lee, then gave Jackson a simple chance to reduce the deficit once more by stupidly obstructing Pyrgos, but the 16-6 deficit was still a worrying one for the visitors.

Sufficiently so, it seemed, that the management appeared to reach early into their options, Scotland vice-captain Ryan Grant sent on to replace Gordon Reid, who looked deeply disappointed to be replaced. Glasgow needed a spark, though, and Pyrgos came close to providing it, looping around Al Kellock just outside the Scarlets 22 then lobbing the ball behind the defensive line, forcing North to hoof the ball dead as Stuart Hogg charged in.

After one quick phase from the resultant scrum the same two players combined to lesser effect. Pyrgos put out a pass which was dying as it reached Kellock and the captain could not take it cleanly – albeit he insisted he had gathered the ball before it hit the ground rather than knocking on as he was adjudged to have done.

That proved Glasgow's last chance to make an impact in the opening half and the expectation that they would come back out fired up seemed ill-founded when, in an area they had been expected to dominate, they conceded a penalty after Grant collapsed a scrum little more than a minute after the break.

The visitors were offered a reprieve when Williams finally put a foot wrong, getting slightly under his kick which drifted just right of the posts. Glasgow were soon back in serious trouble, though, and pinned back in their 22 as a result of well-judged kick by Jonathan Davies. Glasgow lost the ball at the lineout allowing the Scarlets to launch themselves at them once more and Davies needed no second invitation.

Admittedly, the centre was lucky that when he ripped into contact the ball popped out towards his team-mates, but Owen Williams seized it and fed Liam Williams and he showed a similarly deft touch to exchange passes with North before running in.

Williams converted and then extended the lead with his sixth successful strike and the impression that this just was not Glasgow's night was reinforced when Duncan Weir, one of a posse of replacements brought on after the second try, hit the post with an chance he would normally have taken with ease. Williams then showed him how it was done when he hit the target with a penalty yet again, receiving warm applause as he did so.

Glasgow were spared further embarrassment in the dying stages at least, after the defence opened up and invited replacement scrum-half Gareth Davies to scamper clear and slide in under the posts. However, Sean Lamont and Peter Horne managed to wrap him up sufficiently to make it impossible for the replay official to give the score.

That, though, did little to distract from the fact that it had been a dismal effort from a Glasgow side which has been replaced at the top of the table after Ulster demolished Newport Gwent Dragons.