Bath continued their unbeaten march towards the Heineken Cup quarter-finals - but only after surviving a major scare against resilient Recreation Ground visitors Glasgow.

The Pool Five leaders collected a bonus point as they recorded a third successive European victory this season through tries from Frikkie Welsh, Michael Stephenson, Michael Lipman and Salesi Finau.

England centre Olly Barkley booted three penalties and a conversion, but he missed with five other shots at goal during an entertaining, free-flowing encounter.

Scotland fly-half Dan Parks scored 18 of Glasgow's points, including a first-half try, while centre Andrew Henderson also touched down and substitute Colin Gregor's late penalty meant Bath could never relax.

In the end though, their five-point haul kept them well clear of pool challengers Leinster and Bourgoin, and two wins from their remaining three games should be enough to secure a coveted last-eight place.

Bath rested England lock Danny Grewcock following his autumn Test rigours, handing former Leicester and Narbonne forward Peter Short a start alongside Steve Borthwick in the second-row, while Finau and Tom Cheeseman were respective replacements for non-registered wing Joe Maddock and centre Alex Crockett.

Glasgow, left pointless following opening defeats against Bourgoin and Leinster, were rocked on their heels by a scintillating Bath start.

Hooker Lee Mears caused havoc in the Glasgow defence through a powerful 30-metre surge, and when scrum-half Nick Walshe fired possession wide, his fellow backs displayed poise and precision for Welsh to produce an incisive finish.

Barkley failed to land the touchline conversion, and although a Parks penalty opened Glasgow's account after 10 minutes, Bath appeared in control until they were undone by an audacious piece of opportunism from Parks.

His clever midfield kick and catch left Bath's defence in disarray, and Parks' sublime touch was not wasted as Henderson skipped around weak tackling for a try that the fly-half converted.

Bath full-back Matt Perry was injured during the build-up to Glasgow's score, and he limped away to be replaced by former Newcastle wing Stephenson.

The frantic scoring rate continued, with Barkley booting a 19th-minute penalty before Glasgow opened up a nine-point lead when Parks powered over from close range and converted his try to leave Bath scratching their heads.

In a game far more open and attack-minded than most Guinness Premiership matches this season, Bath hit back just two minutes later when Barkley weaved his way through Glasgow's midfield defence and sent a grateful Stephenson scampering clear.

As if to continue the game's somewhat bizarre flavour, Barkley missed an easy conversion attempt before landing a 50-metre penalty, via the crossbar, as Bath clawed their way back at 17-16 adrift.

Parks though, had no intention of being upstaged, and a short-range penalty took his personal points tally to 15 and ensured Bath still had a fight on their hands as half-time approached.

Cheeseman then saw a try disallowed because of fly-half Chris Malone's forward pass five metres out, but it proved only a temporary reprieve for Glasgow.

Barkley's rolling touchfinder into the Glasgow 22 saw visiting wing Hefin O'Hare fumble badly as it rolled out of play, yet the comedy of errors continued from the resulting lineout when Glasgow flanker John Barclay tapped possession straight to Lipman, who ploughed over.

Barkley converted, but Parks slotted his third penalty during stoppage time to haul Glasgow level at 23-23 after a breakneck opening period.

Glasgow began the second-half in confident fashion, and if unmarked wing Rory Lamont had kept his concentration and not dropped a straightforward scoring pass, Bath would have found themselves adrift once more.

Both defences inevitably tightened up, given the first-half points fest, only for Short to receive a yellow card after he tackled a Glasgow player without the ball as Bath struggled for supremacy.

Parks drifted the resulting penalty wide, then Barkley missed from 48 metres before Glasgow pieced together another threatening move that only ended when referee Christophe Berdos accidentally obstructed the ball-carrier, awarding Glasgow a five-metre scrum instead.

Mears though, then stole possession against the head, and Bath cleared possession into Glasgow's half after absorbing a lengthy spell of pressure.

Short returned, relieved that Glasgow had been kept scoreless in his absence, but there was no sign of Bath breaking down spirited Scottish resistance as Barkley sent another penalty wide - his fourth miss from seven kicks at goal.

Finau though, settled escalating Bath nerves with a clinching try 10 minutes from time, and despite Gregor's 75th-minute penalty, a Barkley three-pointer sealed the deal after Glasgow centre Graeme Morrison had been sin-binned.