Ospreys fall just short as Dell gets late winner

■By ROGER PANTING

Ospreys ……………………….. 23pts

Tries: Williams 5, Morgan-Williams 67

Conversions: Walsh 5, 57

Penalties: Walsh 25, 55, 73

Glasgow…………………………31pts

Tries: Matthews 37, 44, Vailanu 51, Dell 80

Conversions: Weir 37, 44, 51, 80

Penalties: Weir 76

OSPREYS could not maintin their momentum after last week's victory over the Sharks as Glasgow turned the game on its head with four driving maul tries.

Ospreys led 23-21 with five minutes to play but Allan Dell struck the decisive blow in the final minute with Justin Tipuric in the sin-bin.

Ospreys head coach Toby Booth said: “Sometimes you don't get what you deserve and it's a bitter pillow to swallow.

“We started encouragingly enough but lost a few key moments although we still found a way to be in front with five minutes to go. Their rolling maul proved decisive but we need to look at how we ended up in those positions in the first place.”

It all went well for Ospreys in the first half hour as they built a 10-0 lead and frustrated the attacking intentions of the Scots but they surrendered momentum as Glasgow hit them with 21 unanswered points in 14 minutes.

Ospreys took an early lead after Glasgow conceded two penalties in quick succession with Keiran Williams on hand to dart over from close range.

Ospreys came close to scoring a second when Mat Protheroe took advantage of inaccurate handling from the Scots to kick ahead. He looked a likely scorer but his second kick forward resulted in the ball running dead.

Ospreys suffered an injury blow when Williams, was forced to leave the field to fail an HIA with Duncan Weir, yellow carded for the high challenge.Walsh kicked the penalty with George North introduced to replace Williams.

Weir returned from the sin-bin to see Johnny Matthews crash over from a lineout drive with Weir's conversion leaving his side 10-7 behind at the interval.

After the restart, Glasgow's pack became increasingly dominant with Matthews and Sione Vailanu proving unstoppable from lineout drives.

Walsh kicked a penalty before Ospreys scored the best try of the night. Skilful passing created space for Luke Morgan to make ground before the wing kicked ahead for Reuben Morgan-Williams to win the race to touchdown.

Ospreys looked to have nicked it with a Walsh penalty but first Weir kicked a penalty before Dell scored their bonus-point try after Tipuric was yellow carded for taking a man out in the air.

Glasgow head coach Franco Smith said: “Ospreys were excellent in the first 20 minutes and we had to fight hard to stay in the game but fortunately our maul went very well.”