Wasps ended more than a month of misery by seeing off Gloucester in a stop-start, almost passionless contest at The Causeway.

They saw off Gloucester with three tries to one but failed to take full advantage of the opposition's vulnerability, particularly in the second half when the visiting centre Henry Paul and prop Christo Bezuidenhout were sinbinned.

Prior to this Zurich Premiership clash Wasps had drawn with Leicester, lost at Worcester and then seen the Tigers claim the spoils in two titanic Heineken Cup encounters.

And then more than just over a week ago, Wasps won in the Powergen Cup at Bristol only to find themselves losing out in the Committee Room when replacement hooker Jonny Barrett was found to be ineligible for the contest - a ruling that ended with Wasps being kicked out of the competition.

But going into the game against Gloucester Lawrence Dallaglio and co must have been confident - after all Gloucester were the last side Wasps had beaten before going on their miserable run which came to a close with this victory.

The first half was notable for the inconsistency of both sides as they strived to come to grips with the bitingly cold conditions.

Wasps got into their stride the quicker, gaining a strong territorial foothold in the opposition half after visiting fly half failed with his first penalty shot at goal.

After seven minutes home flanker Johnny O'Connor profited from a period of sustained forward pressure to claim the game's opening try, converted by full back Mark van Gisbergen.

Four minutes later Paul got Gloucester onto the scoreboard with his first penalty, but van Gisbergen restored the seven points lead for Wasps two minutes later.

The Wasps full back failed with a shot at goal after 22 minutes and then saw him bring his side to within a point with penalties in the 24th and 27th minutes.

The game desperately needed a spark of brilliance from somewhere to get the 10,000 plus capacity crowd going. And the contest got what it needed on the half hour when England star Josh Lewsey started and finished a superb move down the right flank.

Scrum half Matt Dawson was also instrumental in the score but the biggest influence perhaps came from prop Will Green who was up with play to provide the scoring pass for Gisbergen to again convert.

Paul ensured his side remained within striking distance with a penalty but two minutes into first half injury time van Gisbergen kicked his second penalty to give his side a 20-12 half time lead.

Van Gisbergen stretched his side's lead with penalties four minutes and 12 minutes after the break, the second to punish Gloucester centre Paul who was sinbinned after deliberately killing the ball.

Gloucester found themselves in even deeper trouble after 58 minutes when Bezuidenhout was also yellow carded for deliberately impeding Dawson after the scrum half had kicked ahead.

That gifted Wasps an opportunity to drive home a numerical advantage of 15 men to 13. But, despite the pressure they applied, Dallaglio's side were unable to take advantage.

The hosts even managed to drop the ball after a driving maul went at least 30 metres. That typified Wasps' failure to turn the screw on their opponents.

It was only after the sinbinned Gloucester duo returned that Wasps were able to cross their line, this time with powerhouse second row forward Simon Shaw popping up on the right wing to claim an impressive try which Gisbergen converted.

After 78 minutes replacement flanker James Forrester broke away to register Gloucester's consolation try, converted by Paul.

Teams:

Wasps: van Gisbergen, Lewsey, Richards, Abbott, Voyce, King, Dawson, Dowd, Gotting, Green, Shaw, Birkett, Worsley, O'Connor, Dallaglio.

Not Used: Barratt, Mackenzie, Haskell, Hart, Biljon, Brooks, Hoadley.

Tries: O'Connor, Lewsey, Shaw.

Cons: van Gisbergen 3.

Pens: van Gisbergen 4.

Gloucester: Goodridge, Garvey, Fanolua, Paul, Kiole, B. Davies, Gomarsall, Bezuidenhout, M. Davies, Sigley, Eustace, Brown, Boer, Hazell, Balding.

Replacements: Mauger for B. Davies (45), Buxton for Eustace (61), Wood for Boer (60), Forrester for Hazell (56).

Not Used: Curnier, Page, Bailey.

Sin Bin: Paul (51), Bezuidenhout (58).

Tries: Forrester.

Pens: Paul 5.

Att: 10,000

Ref: Roy Maybank (Kent).