Leicester's Premiership play-off hopes were dealt a major blow as Harlequins pulled off a surprise 17-9 victory at The Stoop.

The Tigers were clearly still ruing their lacklustre exit from the Heineken Cup last weekend a they did little to banish the European gremlins.

Dean Richards' defending Premiership champions remain fourth in the league table despite the defeat but, with Leeds Tykes and Northampton Saints hot on their heels, they will have to step up a gear to finish the season in the top four.

Tigers full-back Stimpson had booted the visitors into the lead at the break with three penalties but there was little evidence to suggest the match was theirs for the taking.

Harlequins remained firmly in contention with the only try of the first half. Following a 20 metre scrum, the home side spread the ball out wide to winger Ben Gollings. He could not see a way through so instead kicked ahead and, with Stimpson wrong-footed, he crashed over the tryline to score.

Quins fly-half Paul Burke kept the scoreboard ticking over after the restart with an early penalty.

The home side then went a man down with the sin-binning of flanker Acer Tiatia but Leicester could not capitalise on the advantage and instead Burke booted a further two penalties before adding an impressive 40 metre drop goal to seal the victory.

Teams:

Harlequins: M. Williams, Luger, Greenwood, Deane, Gollings, Burke, Fulton, Jones, Fuga, Leonard, Davison, Miall, Tiatia, Vos, Diprose.

Not Used: Winters, Dawson, Rudzki, Sheriff, Bemand, Satala, Jewell.

Sin Bin: Tiatia (56).

Tries: Gollings.

Pens: Burke 3.

Drop Goals: Burke.

Leicester: Stimpson, Murphy, Lloyd, Kafer, Tuilagi, Vesty, Ellis, Cook, West, Garforth, M. Johnson, Kay, Corry, Kronfeld, Balding.

Not Used: Chuter, Deacon, Short, Nebbett, Booth, Tierney, Gelderbloom.

Pens: Stimpson 3.

Att: 7,123

Ref: Roy Maybank (RFU).