Bristol had an early chance for points but Adrian Jarvis, much to the glee of the Saracens supporters behind me, slid his penalty wide of the posts.  He made amends shortly after with a well taken, if easier, effort that rewarded good, positive play from Bristol aided by the poor discipline of the visitors.  Bristol had the upper hand in this  early stage and a neat kick from Graeme Beveridge caused huge problems for the defence and led to a penalty as a Saracens player deliberately patted the ball into touch.  A case for a yellow card perhaps?  In any event, after a brief delay, Bristol elected to go for an attacking scrum.  Quick passing along the line gave David Lemi the slightest of openings which he made the best of by swift acceleration, a duck under the last tackle and a well fashioned try.  Jarvis was off target with his conversion but Bristol looked good value for a 8 - 0 lead.

Worryingly, Bristol allowed Saracens straight back into the game by giving away a clumsy penalty right from the restart and Jackson made no mistake with his kick.  Even more worryingly we saw Neil Brew, who had looked typically robust in the opening exchanges, limp off to be replaced by Chris Ashwin. However, Bristol continued in a positive vein and Saracens continued to give away penalties that halted any momentum they might intend to build.  A brief period of Saracens' pressure gave Jackson another penalty chance that he took to fleetingly narrow the gap.  Inevitably, Jarvis extended the lead with another kick, despite appearing to lack confidence as he missed earlier efforts.  Saracens attempted to impose themselves and looked to be in for a certain try before absolutely butchering an effort out wide with a ham-fisted knock on when facing a three to one overlap.  A let off for Bristol.  A let off for which they made Saracens pay just before half time.  Vunga Lilo made a fleet and powerful run down the right wing and continued to make ground even when seized by the defence.  The ball went left and Tom Arscott popped up in midfield to make a crucial, if short, dart forward to disrupt the alignment of the Saracens' defence.   Ashwin took advantage to flip the ball out to the waiting Lemi who went over in virtually the same place a before for an unconverted try but a deserved 16 - 6 lead at half time.

The early part of the second half saw Jackson miss when kicking a penalty from a similar position as Jarvis in the first, which surprised the Saracens support behind me.  However, Bristol responded quickly via a fine midfield break from Lemi that lead to a penalty as Saracens went off their feet at the ruck.  Ashwin took over kicking duties and took Bristol further ahead at 19 - 6.  Jackson reduced the advantage with a more characteristic penalty effort with an hour played.

Now came the game's controversial point.  Replacement Mat Turner showed his pace when chasing a high, hanging, kick down the right wing.  Cato, in turn, was going forward in his effort to claim it.  Cato leapt high for the ball and Turner clearly realised that if he kept going would tackle Cato when off the ground.  He stopped dead in his tracks but Cato's forward momentum took him over Turners shoulder.  Saracens players reacted badly and the referee, perhaps influenced by this response, brandished the yellow card.  This was, at best, a harsh decision.  What could Turner do?  It is difficult, to say the least, to stop instantly in your tracks and run immediately backwards.  He made an obvious effort to avoid taking Cato out whilst in the air and can hardly be blamed for an inability to defy the laws of physics in failing to get out of the equally Newtonian path of Cato.  If this was dangerous play then it should have been a red card.  If it wasn't a red card then, legally, how can it have been yellow?  At the most it was a penalty, and personally I don't think it was even that.  In fairness, if I had the misfortune to be a supporter of Saracens and not had the excellent view I had, I would probably have thought Turner had indeed tackled Cato in the air, but I must emphasise that it was clear to me that he was aware of this danger and made no effort to make any sort of tackle but was actually hit by Cato before he could avoid contact.  I'm not sure if the laws actually require him to get out of the way in this situation but equally I don't think there was any way he could have done.

In any event Turner was off the field just after coming on.  Saracens were quick to take advantage and they outnumbered the Bristol defence on Turner's vacant side and Cato went over untouched for his side's first try, converted by Jackson and a score of 19 - 16.  Their second try followed soon after when Farrell gave the scoring pass to full-back Goode, again out wide in the position vacated by Turner.  In undeserved fashion, Bristol were behind 19 - 21.  The seeming injustice of the situation spurred the Bristol forward to greater efforts and the drove ferociously into the heart of the visitors' defence.  Saracens were hard put to tit and gave away a penalty that Ashwin nervelessly slotted to restore the lead to Bristol at 22 - 21.  Sadly his efforts was undone when Bristol gave away a penalty in front of the posts that Jackson was never going to miss and he restored the advantage to 22 - 24.  With the clock on zero Bristol had a final scrum, the ball was sped out to the returned Turner who raced down the right wing.  It looked as if he would be taken into to touch by desperate defence, but superb balance saw him come inside and offload.  Bristol worked the ball rapidly to the other wing as Saracens strove to reorganise, and then back into midfield.  In an effort to outwit the onrushing defence an awkward pass was flung in Lilo's direction but he was unable to hold on and the final chance was lost.

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