Leicester took a giant step towards a third successive league title with the narrowest of victories against Bath at the Recreation Ground.

The defending champions now have an 11-point lead at the top of the Zurich Premiership, with nearest rivals Northampton in action tomorrow at mid-table Gloucester.

Leicester owed their victory to a tremendous second-half performance in which their forwards recovered from a shaky start to shut Bath out of the picture.

The hosts had led 16-6 at the interval after looking much the better side and scoring a scintillating try through Iain Balshaw.

But the Tigers emerged from the dressing room in far more purposeful mood and a series of Bath errors in the opening minute offered the visitors the chance to score a trademark Neil Back try from a line-out.

Tim Stimpson could not convert but added his third penalty on 66 minutes to put Leicester within striking range at 16-14.

The killer blow came just three minutes later after a dazzling passage of play in which Leicester recycled the ball umpteen times until the move was finally halted by desperate Bath defence.

Just when they thought they had held the Tigers at bay, fly-half Andy Goode let fly with a dropped goal from nearly 50 metres to edge his side into the lead for the first time in the game.

The last 10 minutes was all Bath as they peppered the Leicester posts with a succession of dropped goal attempts and even when the prolific Jon Preston came on and had an attempt from 45 metres, the ball sailed just wide.

That effort in the third minute of injury time was the final chance for Bath to score their first victory over their bitter rivals since April 1999.

The first half had been an entirely different story as Bath, fired up after their 50-point win over London Irish just 72 hours before, took the game to the champions.

Matt Perry put them in front with a penalty in the very first minute and added another on 23 minutes soon after Stimpson had brought the sides level with a straightforward kick.

Balshaw's try on 24 minutes was a quality affair created by Mike Catt and Dan Lyle.

But Bath seemed to lose their rhythm after hooker Mark Regan was sin-binned on 28 minutes for a silly offence after the whistle had already gone.

In the 10 minutes he was off the field Perry and Stimpson kicked a penalty apiece but that was the last clear scoring opportunity that Bath had.

Zurich man of the match: Andy Goode.