Horne puts Warriors clear at the top

Peter Horne kicked a 75th minute penalty to move Glasgow Warriors clear at top of the Pro12 after a close 19-16 win over fellow title hopefuls Ospreys at Scotstoun.

Tom Grabham's try midway through the second half looked to have won them the game for Ospreys after a dominant start from the hosts saw them take a 7-0 through Pat McArthur.

Ospreys flyhalf Sam Davies kicked his side back into contention but his 11 points were bettered by Warriors counterpart Horne.

And the Scottish outfit, who started the game level on points with both Ulster and Munster - with Leinster just one back - are now four clear at the top.

Glasgow began the stronger of the two sides as the first ten minutes of the game was played almost exclusively inside the Ospreys' 22.

They persisted with their dominance and kept possession well against a side which has only one once in Scotland since 2009.

The hard work paid off after only 13 minutes when a strong Glasgow scrum was worked out wide to makeshift winger Niko Matawalu by scrum-half Ali Price before MacArthur bundled over and Horne added the extras.

However, Glasgow's attempt to force their dominance by running from inside their 22 was thwarted by a clever tactical kicking game from their Welsh rivals.

Ospreys then had two chances to close the gap halfway through the first half but Davies missed both of his penalties before slotting his next one straight down the middle to make it 7-3.

The Ospreys closed the game to within a point just after the half-hour mark as good work from Justin Tipuric at the breakdown eventually led to a penalty which Davies duly converted.

Horne extended the Glasgow lead with a penalty, getting his side's first points on the board for 23 minutes despite their dominance from the start to leave the score at 10-6 at half time.

Glasgow began the second half as they did the first, with Richie Vernon striding over the gain-line and forcing a penalty which Horne then kicked.

Against the run of play Ospreys won a line out before Martin Roberts' delayed pass released Grabham who steamed through the Glasgow defence giving Davies the opportunity to level the scores at 13-13.

The Welsh side then took the lead for the first time with only 20 minutes remaining through Davies as the Ospreys opted to go for the posts rather than kick to the corner, before Horne levelled the scores again with a penalty of his own.

Horne then hit the winning penalty but not before more drama at the last when Davies pulled his final effort just wide of the target to hand the Warriors their 16th successive home win.

The scorers:

For Glasgow Warriors:

Try: MacArthur

Con: Horne

Pens: Horne 4

For Ospreys:

Try: Grabham

Con: Davies

Pens: Davies 3

Teams:

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Niko Matawalu, 13 Richie Vernon, 12 Fraser Lyle, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Peter Horne, 9 Ali Price, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Tyrone Holmes, 6 James Eddie, 5 Al Kellock (captain), 4 Leone Nakarawa, 3 Rossouw de Klerk, 2 Pat MacArthur, 1 Ryan Grant

Replacements: 16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Fraser McKenzie, 20 Will Bordill, 21 Connor Braid, 22 Rory Hughes, 23 Glenn Bryce

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Tom Grabham, 13 Jonathan Spratt, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Dafydd Howells, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 Dan Baker, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 James King, 5 Tyler Ardron (captain), 4 Tevita Cavubati, 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Ryan Bevington

Replacements: 16 Scott Otten, 17 Marc Thomas, 18 Dmitri Arhip, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Joe Bearman, 21 Ieuan Jones, 22 Tom Habberfield, 23 Hanno Dirksen

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland), Neil Paterson (Scotland)

TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)