Glasgow 34 Ulster 20
Australian Dan Parks was the home hero as Glasgow eased away from the foot of the Celtic League table with a convincing win over Ulster at Hughenden last night.
Parks compiled 24 points, including two brilliant tries, as Glasgow erased the memory of last week's injury-time defeat against Munster.
Yet it was Ulster who started brightest when Keiran Campbell's darting run from halfway helped them grab the initiative.
In the ensuing pressure Jon Petrie was sin-binned for a deliberate infringement, and David Humphreys rubbed salt in the wound by slotting the penalty.
Five minutes later it was the home fans who were celebrating the first try of the night. Parks made the decisive break from halfway, and when the ball was recycled powerhouse prop Kevin Tkachuk plunged over to give the Aussie an easy conversion.
But Glasgow went to sleep on the restart and allowed the Irishmen to reclaim the lead within seconds.
Tyrone Howe provided the finishing touch from a Kevin Maggs pass before Humphreys added the conversion.
The Scots then had to withstand intense pressure as Ulster went in for the kill, but superb tackling kept the visitors out.
Glasgow were handed a massive advantage when first Simon Best was sin-binned for throwing a punch and then Mark McCullough followed to reduce the visitors to 13 men.
The numerical advantage paid dividends as the Hughenden men instantly reclaimed the lead.
They first won good scrum possession, then stretched the Ulster defence with a string of slick passes which created the opening for centre Graeme Morrison to touch down near the posts. Parks again slotted the penalty.
The fly-half then opened up a seven-point gap 10 minutes after the break when he thumped over a 40-metre penalty.
It got even better for Glasgow when Parks sold Humphreys a cheeky dummy to nip in under the posts and convert.
The visitors stayed in touch through a Humphreys penalty which sparked a further period of Irish pressure.
But Parks put the issue beyond doubt with his second converted try, and Ulster could respond only with a final Humphreys penalty.
PA