Saracens were plunged deeper into the relegation mire after suffering an eighth successive Guinness Premiership defeat, this time against Bristol.

They are only four points above bottom club Leeds who have cut the gap significantly with their recent run of improved form.

Bristol fly-half Jason Strange punished Saracens for their indiscipline by landing four penalties from five attempts and Bristol survived a late spell of intense pressure to hold on for a vital victory in the battle at the bottom of the table.

Strange also converted left-wing Marco Stanojevic's first-half try to finish with 14 points.

Saracens, without a league victory since beating Newcastle 27-18 on November 20, brought skipper Hugh Vyvyan, former All Blacks star Taine Randell and ex-Ireland hooker Shane Byrne back into their starting line-up.

Those changes followed the 58-17 capitulation at Northampton, but the additions were unable to stop the rot.

The problems for Saracens began in the opening seconds when the usually dependable goal-kicker Glen Jackson missed a penalty from in front of the posts, after Bristol full-back Vaughan Going illegally challenged Saracens' flanker David Seymour as he chased the kick-off.

Jackson made amends with a fifth-minute penalty but Bristol responded with three from Strange before half-time.

Their first-half try followed an excellent run by Going, who got in his pass as he was tackled by Dan Scarbrough to leave Stanojevic, scorer of a Powergen Cup hat-trick against Ospreys on his last start in December, with a clear run to the line.

Bristol centre Sam Cox was sin-binned 10 minutes into the second half when referee Sean Davey finally ran out of patience following a series of infringements by both sides.

Jackson kicked the resulting penalty but Saracens failed to take any further advantage from their temporary numerical superiority.

A minute after Cox returned, Saracens second row Simon Raiwalui was shown a yellow card for a late challenge and Strange kicked his fourth penalty to extend Bristol's lead to 19-6.

Despite being a man short, Saracens hit back with a 64th-minute try when second-half replacement Ben T Russell finished off their best move of the match, crashing his way over in the right corner.

Jackson converted to cut the deficit to six points.

That sparked a desperate late surge from the men in black who pinned Bristol in their own half for most of the final 15 minutes.

Saracens put two penalties into the left corner to set up potential scoring opportunities, but the visitors mounted a desperate rearguard action and held out.