Bath's Tetley Bitter Cup ambitions were dealt a mortal blow as a weakened Gloucester side vanquished them from the tournament at the first hurdle.

The Cherry and Whites, minus many of their star names, outscored the home side by three tries to nil to record a famous victory and set up a fifth round confrontation with defending league champions, the Leicester Tigers.

For Bath, the immaculate kicking of Jon Preston was to prove insufficient as the try drought stretched to three matches.

Coach Jon Callard made five changes to the team that fought so hard to record a 18-5 win over Munster last weekend, mainly due to problems beyond his control.

Shaun Berne and Kevin Maggs were partnered in midfield for the first time this season, while Preston was recalled to the scrum half berth, just reward for an excellent display in the Heineken Cup.

In the pack Gavin Thomas came in for Angus Gardiner and Nathan Thomas was handed the number eight shirt in absence of Dan Lyle on international duty with the US Eagles at Murrayfield.

Gloucester rested key players Ian Jones, Kingsley Jones and Australian superstar Jason Little, while flanker Junior Paramore and Andy Gomarsall only made the replacements bench.

There was no clue as to the drama ahead as Bath took complete control in the early stages of a scrappy encounter. With outside half Mike Catt controlling matters with some astute kicking and Matt Perry's booming touch-finders keeping Gloucester on the back foot the visitors weren't a threat until near the end of the half.

Indeed, such was Bath's dominance of the first half hour Gloucester were forced to concede numerous penalties and free kicks in order to keep Bath out.

Preston took advantage of these indiscretions to fire Bath into a comfortable early lead.

The New Zealander landed the first of four early penalties after only five minutes when Gloucester were caught off side and he repeated the dose on the quarter hour mark after prop Phil Vickery was sent to the sin bin for a very late tackle on Maggs.

Two further Preston penalties made it 12-0, before Gloucester, backed by a vociferous following scored their first try on 37 minutes.

In the visitors first concerted attack of the half Bath were caught on the back foot and were duly penalised for offside.

Instead of taking the easy three points on offer Tom Bein took a quick tap penalty.

The winger released Byron Hayward who ignored a two on one overlap out wide to cut back inside and muscle his way over from close range.

The Welshman, who had a nightmare performance with the boot the last time these two teams met in September, converted his own score.

Bath however, finished the half the stronger and Preston slotted a fifth penalty four minutes into stoppage time to send Bath into the break 15-7 ahead.

Bath were awarded yet another penalty four minutes into the second half when referee Steve Lander penalised Gloucester and then marched them back ten metres for backchat. Preston, so reliable with the boot, collected his sixth penalty of the game for an excellent 18 total.

Sadly, that was the last we were to see of Bath as an attacking threat until the final seconds.

Gloucester, who were down by 11 points at this stage, forced their way back into contention with a three minute spell of rugby that brought them ten points.

Firstly, Hayward landed a simple 40 metre penalty from in front of the posts before the Cherry and White's second try. That arrived after 48 minutes and was a product of the forward's. When the ball came back, centre Terry Fanolua, popped off a short pass to lock Mark Cornwell who crashed over from five metres out. Hayward reduced the gap to a solitary point with a conversion.

Sensing a famous win, Gloucester sent on Samoan Paramore and ex-Bath scrum half Gomarsall to try and snatch the victory. The substitutions didn't impede on the visitors flow and after 63 minutes Gloucester went in front for the first time in the match.

From a scrum, Gomarsall sniped down the blind side and fed full back Chris Catling who was charging up in support. Catling slipped Catt's attempted tackle before passing to wing Tom Bein. Bein raced 30 metres towards the corner before cutting inside Perry to cross for the try, Hayward converted.

Bath saw the match slipping away and sent on Mark Gabey and joint top try scorer Rob Thirlby in order to reverse the scoreline. It almost worked. Kevin Maggs took an inside pass from Catt and looked certain to score until Joe Ewens wrapped him up in a superb tackle inches from the line.

Soon after Iain Balshaw was brought down by Catling when one on one and when Bath knocked on the resultant recycled ball the match and Bath's participation in a competition that they have won ten times was over.

Team: Matt Perry, Iain Balshaw, Kevin Maggs, Shaun Berne, Adedayo Adebayo (Rob Thirlby 74), Mike Catt, Jon Preston, Simon Emms, Mark Reagan, Chris Horsman (John Mallett 55), Martin Haag (Mark Gabey 70), Steve Borthwick, Gavin Thomas, Ben Clarke, Nathan Thomas. Referee: Steve Lander. Att: 6,200.