Leicester Tigers

Adam Thompstone scored Tigers' only try of the game and his fifth of the season while George Ford added four penalties to secure a sixth win of the league campaign.

Bath, who scored two tries through Stephen Donald and Tom Biggs, were reduced to 13 men after red cards in the second-half for Francois Louw and Matt Banahan. There were also yellow cards for Simon Taylor and Stephen Donald for the visitors while Brett Deacon received a red card in the same incident as Banahan.

Tigers welcomed back Martin Castrogiovanni and Marcos Ayerza from international duty as well as England Elite Player Squad members Anthony Allen and Thomas Waldrom. Leicester were forced into a late replacement when Sam Harrison withdrew through illness. Micky Young stepped up from the bench with Patrick Phibbs taking his place among the replacements.

Horacio Agulla returned to Welford Road for the first time after his summer move to The Rec.

Brett Deacon's tackle gave Agulla an early welcome back to Welford Road but referee Tim Wigglesworth ruled it was late on the Argentina international giving Donald a kick at goal. However, the fly-half's penalty dropped short and into the waiting arms of Thomas Waldrom.

The Tigers defence stood firm as Bath put together a series of phases close to the line, with Banahan and Agulla trying to force their way over, before the visitors knocked-on in the tackle.

Runs from Waldrom and Tait took Tigers into Bath territory for the first time where Paul James infringed. However, Ford was wide with his penalty from the angle.

Ford began a lovely move involving Anthony Allen and Marcos Ayerza before Donald intercepted Brett Deacon's final pass and ran the ball into touch with Niall Morris eyeing a run to the line.

Donald was heavily involved in the opening quarter of the game and it was the All Black who scored the game's opening try. He used Banahan and Kyle Eastmond as decoys on his outside before straightening up his run to score to the right of the posts.

Bath hands in the ruck gave Tigers their second penalty but Ford's kick struck the right post and the visitors cleared.

Back Tigers came with Tait's run taking them into the Bath 22. He had Thompstone running a line off the left wing and he was stopped just short. Tigers recycled possession and moved it through Allen and Kitchener, whose long pass found Morris on the left wing to dive over at the corner under pressure from Biggs. However, the try was disallowed by the television match official, who ruled Kitchener's pass had gone forward.

Tigers turned down a number of penalty kicks at the posts, opting for the corner instead. It almost paid dividends when Kitchener set up the drive, which was stopped just short. The ball was moved to the left where Allen's final pass evaded Thompstone and the ball went into touch.

Tigers had the Bath scrum under pressure on their own put-in 5m from the visitors' line. Salvi stole possession for Waldrom to score but the referee ruled the flanker knocked on as he tried to get his pass away.

Bath led 5-0 at the break and there were no changes to either side at half-time.

The first scrum of the second-half was collapsed by the Bath front row and Ford made no mistake with the penalty to put Tigers' first points on the board.

An arcing run by Matt Smith from the 10m line had Tigers going forward again but he was stopped 15m out by Eastmond. On the other flank, Tait's grubber was well fielded by Abendanon, who won a penalty as Tigers went off their feet.

Bath went down to 14 men with 30 minutes remaining when No8 Taylor obstructed Tait as he attempted to field his own chip ahead and was shown a yellow card.

Another smart run by Tait took Tigers back into the Bath half where he was held in the tackle. Ford made no mistake with the penalty from 45m to put Tigers ahead for the first time.

It was a short-lived lead as Bath hit back with their second try of the game. Banahan made ground down the left and popped a pass inside for Tom Biggs to run to the line. Donald added the conversion to give the visitors a 12-6 lead.

Geordan Murphy replaced Mat Tait and moments later Murphy and Louw were involved in an incident, which resulted in the Bath flanker receiving a red card.

Tigers made their numerical advantage count straight away. Brett Deacon set up the maul and Tigers drove on before the ball was moved to the left where Morris's floated pass found Thompstone in space to score. It went unconverted as Tigers trailed 12-11.

Allen then stepped out of defence and made 40m to take Tigers back into the Bath half. He chipped ahead and was pushed by Michael Claassens as he chased the kick, giving Ford a simple penalty to put Tigers 14-12 ahead.

Allen was tackled high by Banahan as he caught the restart. Banahan was shown a red card for the tackle, reducing Bath to 13 men for the last 15 minutes, and Brett Deacon was also sent off after players from both teams became involved. Dan Bowden came on as a replacement for Allen, who was carried from the field on a stretcher.

Bath then went down to 12 men when Donald was shown a yellow card following an incident with Bowden.

Ford moved Tigers 17-12 ahead with his third penalty before Bath turned down a penalty kick of their own but Jack Cuthbert's touch-finder went dead.

At the other end Adam Thompstone's inside pass almost put Bowden in at the corner but he was tackled into touch by the covering Abendanon for the last scoring chance of the game.