Chris Malone landed a touchline conversion with the last kick of the match to give Bath a dramatic victory in a thrilling Powergen Cup quarter-final at Edgeley Park on Friday night.

Replacement Matthew Stevens dived over at the corner in the fifth minute of stoppage time to bring the visitors to within a point, and Malone maintained his composure to land the all-important goal.

It was cruel luck on Sale, last year's beaten finalists who lost fly-half Charlie Hodgson through illness at half-time and captain Jason Robinson with a leg injury 10 minutes from the end.

The Sharks were leading 20-12 when Robinson limped off but they conceded a try within a minute to Isaac Feaunati which set up the tense finish.

It was Bath's first away win in the competition since 1996, the last time they reached the last four, as they inflicted on Sale only their second home defeat in eight matches.

Hodgson kicked two goals before succumbing to the effects of flu. But Sale were well-served by their other England men Mark Cueto, Chris Jones and Andy Titterrell.

The Sharks, who were also boosted by the return of former Scotland scrum-half Bryan Redpath from a broken cheekbone, dominated the match for long periods but were never able to put away their gritty opponents.

Bath rarely reached the Sale 22 in the first half. But when they did they made sure they came away with points, courtesy of the boot of Olly Barkley who was also their most dangerous attacker.

Barkley kicked four first-half penalties, including a 45-metre effort and two others from awkward angles, as Sale - who had difficulty enough securing their own ball - resorted to illegal means to turn the ball over.

The visitors were more adept at winning possession, and their back row frequently broke up lively attacking moves as the Sharks failed to turn their territorial advantage into points.

The only try of the first half came from lock Jones, who was left unmarked on the right wing after sustained pressure on the Bath line uncovered an overlap.

They ought to have scored earlier when left-wing Chris Mayor held on to the ball with Cueto on his outside and was brought down a foot short of the line.

Hodgson, whose neat chip over the defence set up the position for Jones' try, added the touchline conversion to an earlier penalty before taking a rest.

Bath could not match their opponents' cutting edge. But their 12-10 interval lead would have been greater had Malone and Matt Perry not both been off target with drop-goal attempts.

Malone was wide with another drop-goal attempt early in the second half, and Barkley's accuracy also finally deserted him when he missed with a fifth penalty kick at goal on 43 minutes.

The game appeared to take a decisive turn on 53 minutes when Cueto re-gathered his own kick over the defence and found substitute hooker Titterrell, who neatly side-stepped his way past Perry to touch down.

Another replacement, fly-half Mike Hercus, kicked the conversion and increased his side's lead to 20-12 with a penalty as Sale attempted to put the game to bed.

Barkley miscued another penalty and was also off target with the conversion after number eight Feaunati was driven over for a 72nd-minute try.

Makeshift full-back Cueto pulled off one try-saving tackle before Stevens took Malone's floated pass to dive over at the corner - and Malone supplied the killer touch with the boot.