A FOUL night, a poor game with little to entertain or excite the crowd, the only good thing to be said about this match was that somehow Glasgow Warriors found a way to win when the chips were down. That could be the sign of a team going places, though they must know that the only place they are going if they continue to perform like this is into mid-table oblivion.

In the end, suggested Adam Ashe, the No.8 who won the man of the match award after scoring the try that broke the stalemate late in the second half, it was the Scots' fitness more than finesse that won the day. "The try was going to come at some point, I felt they were tiring," he said. "We had highlighted during the week that Treviso are a big team, a big set-piece team, and teams like that do tend to tire late in the game. We had to stick to our patterns knowing that if the tries did not come early they would come some time."

The thing about Glasgow's season is that it has had to be pretty much rebooted after the World Cup, when all their senior players returned. So far they have yet to rediscover the style that took them to the Guinness PRO12 title last season. True, they have managed to win, and until this game they had scored bonus-point tries in the league.

Their problems, however, had been ruthlessly exposed by Northampton last week, their European hopes hang by a slender thread as a result and Treviso had obviously gone to town doing their homework on that match to see how to counter the Glasgow threat.

You have got to remember that Treviso are a team that seem to have had nothing but problems for the last 18 months, so this should have been the perfect chance for Glasgow to find their mojo again, and an early penalty by Finn Russell, the fly-half, from the first attack down the stiff breeze suggested they might be able to do just that.

It turned out to be a false start for the Scots, though. Mistakes were already evident in their game with too many poor kicks and cheap penalties allowing the Italians to get into their 22, where Jayden Hayward, the fly half, quickly levelled the scores with a kick of his own, which he then repeated to take his side ahead.

The problem was that Glasgow were hardly seeing the ball and though their defence was coping well enough with the predictable Treviso attack, there was no chance of them scoring as long as the possession statistics were so heavily against them.

A perfect example of the problems they were creating for themselves came late in the half when they did manage a rare foray into opposition territory only for Russell to pass straight to Hayward, his opposite number. Luckily for the Scots, he did not have the pace to go 80 yards and score, and even more luckily, he then missed an easy penalty from the attacking position.

So, cue for a dressing-room dressing down and for them to come out and turn on the style in the second half? Maybe that was the theory, but it was certainly not the reality. They came out and were just as bad after the break as before, the only stroke of good luck being that Treviso were just as poor, Hayward's second penalty miss keeping the Scots within three points.

That was when the forecast rain arrived, though to he fair if was hard to see how it could make the error-strewn rugby on display any worse, as both sides continued to struggle to hang onto the ball as they cancelled each other out between the 22s.

In the end, the quality of the replacements swung the match back to Glasgow and with the Italians starting to tire they were presented with a late attacking chance to apply some real pressure. They had already got over the line a couple of times but had failed to ground the ball, when they were presented with a penalty in front of the posts.

A kick would have levelled the scores but they elected to go for the try, earning the reward when Ashe was bundled over in a pile of bodies and got the ruling he wanted from the referee. A conversion and a penalty from Duncan Weir, the replacement fly-half, took the Scots out of sight by the end, but as Gregor Townsend, the head coach admitted, the result was the only cause for celebration.

"I am very pleased we got the win," he said. "We just did not seem to be able to get ball in the first half and then in the second, especially when the weather got worse, it was tough, very tough, to score points and tries. We created enough pressure.

"We have not played as well yet as we did last season but that is understandable. We have had players coming back in [from the World Cup] and with the one called off this was only our second game with all the squad available. There are things to work on, but some things were pretty good too. The set piece got better and the line out drive was good, for example."

That said, Leinster, who are next up, now have two examples of how to take on this Glasgow side and counter their attacking play. The lessons won't be lost on them.

Scorers: Glasgow Warriors: Try: Ashe (73). Con: Weir. Pen: Russell (2), Weir (78) Benetton Treviso: Pen: Hayward (8, 31, 50) Scoring sequence (Glasgow Warriors first): 3-0, 3-3, 3-6 (half time), 10-6, 13-6,

Glasgow Warriors: S Hogg; T Naiyaravoro, M Bennett, A Dunbar (S Johnson, 77), S Lamont; F Russell (D Weir, 54), G Hart (A Price, 62); G Reid (R Grant, 53), S Mamukashvili (J Malcolm, 60), M Cusack (S Puafisi, 54), T Swinson (G Peterson, 68), J Gray (C), R Harley, C Fusaro (J Strauss, 60), A Ashe.

Benetton Treviso: L McLean (C); A Pratichetti, T Iannone, S Christie, S Ragusi; J Hayward, C Smylie; M Zanusso, O Gega (L Bigi, 60), F Filippetto (S Manu, 16, Alberto De Marchi, 65), T Paulo, J Montauriol (D Budd, 58, M Barbini (M Lazzaroni, 74), F Minto, A Steyn (D Budd, 16-31, Andrea De Marchi, 74).

Referee: D Wilkinson (Ireland)

Attendance: 6,634