HEINEKEN CUP POOL 3 Glasgow (6) 9: Pens: Parks 3 Northampton (7) 13: Tries: Cohen Cons: Drahm Pens: Drahm 2 Att: 2,772

England winger Ben Cohen's try proved the difference between the sides as Northampton opened their Heineken Cup campaign with victory in Glasgow.

Marc Stcherbina sent Cohen cruising over in the English side's first attack, with Shane Drahm adding the tricky conversion.

Two Gordon Parks penalties reduced the deficit to one point by the interval.

But two penalties from Drahm put the visitors back in charge before Parks reduced the arrears to four points.

It meant Northampton had put their dismal Zurich Premiership form behind them in horrendous conditions at Hughenden.

The game had only gone ahead after a heroic mopping up exercise by Glasgow management and fans in the wake of an overnight monsoon that left the ground like a gluepot.

Prop Chris Budgen did the initial damage for Northampton by leaving centres Graeme Morrison and Andy Henderson wallowing in the mud before set up Cohen's try.

Glasgow full-back Rory Kerr was forced to carry the ball over his own line, but Saints could not capitalise.

The visitors were reduced to 14 men when flanker Darren Fox was sent to the sin-bin by French referee Eric Darriere for throwing a punch.

Glasgow mounted a series of attacks, but their finishing could not match their promising lead-up work, although Parks clipped over a close-range penalty to get them off the mark.

There was a let-off for the home side when a Drahm penalty crashed back off the crossbar.

And, within two minutes, Parks collected three more points at the other end to narrow the gap to just one at the break.

The untidy action continued after the restart with both teams making mistakes galore.

Northampton seized the initiative with a straightforward Drahm penalty after Glasgow were guilty of not rolling clear of the tackle scene.

There was another double-blow for the Warriors three minutes later.

Opensider Donny Macfadyen was yellow carded for killing the ball on the ground - and Drahm was on target again.

Parks completed his treble to keep the Warriors in the hunt, but they never looked like stealing the glory.

Glasgow: Kerr, Lamont, Morrison, Henderson, Logan, Parks, Pinder, Tckachuk, Bulloch, Harrison, Hall, Turner, Mather, MacFadyen, Petrie.
Replacements: Howarth for Kerr (72), Beveridge for Pinder (72), Kelly for Harrison (72), Wilson for Hall (75). Not Used: Lawson, Beattie, Craig.

Northampton: Reihana, Rudd, Stcherbina, Hyndman, Cohen, Drahm, Robinson, Budgen, Richmond, Kempson, Lord, Browne, Fox, Krige, Blowers.
Replacements: Human for Rudd (55), Sturgess for Budgen (80), Seely for Blowers (78). Not Used: van Wyk, O'Donoghue, Howard, Vilk.

Ref: Eric Darriere (France).