Gloucester plunged Bath further into the relegation mire as they maintained their own position at the top of the Zurich Premiership.

But the leaders had to recover from a half-time deficit as their West Country rivals belied their lowly status in a tight match at Kingsholm.

Fly-half Ludovic Mercier once again guided Gloucester home, kicking 19 points through five penalties and conversions of second-half tries by Olivier Azam and Marcel Garvey.

Bath, relegated to bottom spot after Newcastle's win at Leeds on Friday, were denied even a bonus point thanks to Garvey's late solo dash.

Match facts

Gloucester 29 (9) Tries: Azam, Garvey Cons: Mercier 2 Pens: Mercier 5 Bath 16 (10) Tries: Borthwick Cons: Barkley Pens: Barkley Drops: Catt 2

Mike Catt, an attacking menace from start to finish, dropped two goals, with lock Steve Borthwick scoring a try and Olly Barkley booting the rest of the visitors' points.

They remain two points adrift with six matches left to save their place among the elite.

Bath made the early running but Mercier's trusty left boot kicked Gloucester into an early 6-0 lead.

But the basement side stunned the leaders with a 10-point burst in just five minutes.

Catt dropped a short-range goal, before his brilliant 60m break from just outside Bath's 22 had Gloucester defenders retreating at a rate of knots.

Gloucester looked to have cleared the initial danger, but Bath won ruck ball and spun possession wide to give Borthwick a rare try which Barkley converted.

Catt landed two drop goals

Mercier added another penalty before the break, and Bath were reduced to 14 men after referee Tony Spreadbury sin-binned prop John Mallett following a forward skirmish.

Gloucester made the extra man count with their opening try after 49 minutes when French international Azam claimed the touchdown after a line-out catch and drive.

Mercier nonchalantly landed the touchline conversion but Bath did not roll over and Catt's second drop-goal put them back in contention at 16-13.

Another Mercier penalty extended the hosts' lead but Bath kept plugging away, again narrowing the gap to three points with a Barkley penalty.

Mercier ensured that the Bath dream remained exactly that though, slotting penalty number five and then converting Garvey's 80th-minute try.

Gloucester: Delport; Garvey, Fanolua, Todd, Simpson-Daniel; Mercier, Gomarsall; Roncero, Azam, Deacon, Fidler, Cornwell, Boer, Hazell, Paramore.
Replacements: Stuart-Smith, Beim, O'Leary, Fortey, Molloy, Buxton, Eustace.

Bath: Perry; Voyce, Maggs, Tindall, Barkley; Catt, A Williams; Barnes, Humphries, Mallett, Borthwick, Grewcock, Beattie, Vander, N Thomas.
Replacements: Blake, Mears, Galasso, Crockett, Malone, Scaysbrook, Lloyd.

Referee: Dave Pearson (RFU)