Bristol 16, Bath 9: The wait is finally over. At the 19th time of asking Bristol at last recorded a league victory over their old adversaries.

A solitary try from Argentinian international scrum-half Agustin Pichot proved the difference in a fully committed encounter.

Bath were once again shorn of their five-strong English international contingent.

With centre Jeremy Guscott also absent for personal reasons, coach Jon Callard gave a first full league start to young Sam Cox.

Adedayo Adebayo and Jon Preston were recalled after injury while in the pack Martin Haag and Gavin Thomas replaced Mark Gabey and Angus Gardiner.

Bristol lined up at full strength and there were no fewer than five ex-Bath players in their pack, including revitalised number eight Ben Sturnham.

Referee Chris White was the busiest man on the field, penalising a succession of basic errors.

Bristol should have taken the lead after only four minutes when Bath were caught offside but outside-half Felipe Contepomi, who had an excellent game, hooked his kick wide from inside the 22.

The visitors responded with a penalty of their own from half-way which Preston struck well but Alex Brown was hoisted to catch the ball as it was about to bisect the posts.

The home team almost crossed the line but Pichot ignored a huge overlap and attempted to sneak over himself.

However, Bath had strayed offside and Contepomi put his side ahead from close range.

The Argentinian doubled the lead with a second successful kick after 25 minutes as Bristol gradually took control of an ill-tempered contest.

Bath rarely threatened in a game littered with handling errors and it was something of a surprise when two minutes from the interval scrum-half Preston reduced the arrears with a penalty.

The defining moment came four minutes after the restart. Bath were penalised in the shadow of their own posts and after failing to retreat ten yards the referee had no alternative but to order a retake.

While Bath reorganised, Pichot took a quick tap penalty and weaved his way past three defenders to bustle over for a converted try.

Bath then lost Preston through injury before number eight Dan Lyle was sent to the sin-bin for tackling Pichot without the ball.

Contepomi kicked the resulting penalty and Bath trailed by eight points.

Head coach Jon Callard made several changes to attempt to force a result.

Full-back Tom Voyce was replaced by Stuart Bellinger while Simon Emms and Andy Lloyd also came on.

In between this rush of changes, Shaun Berne slotted over two penalties and saw another come back off the post to set up a grandstand finale.

Contepomi had two chances to seal the game with kickable penalties but missed with them both.

Bath finished with a flurry and almost committed daylight robbery.

Cooper unfortunately knocked on close to the line with men to spare outside waiting for the scoring pass and that perfectly summed up Bath's day.