Glasgow Warriors won a famous victory this afternoon. Self-belief was mixed into the Firhill pot along with determination and devil as the vital ingredients for their Heineken Cup victory against French giants Biarritz.

It was not a pretty game. It was never going to that on a chilling afternoon, with a soft top on the pitch. The only scores were penalty goals, three for Glasgow, two for Biarritz. But what the contest lacked in tries was compensated in inverse proportion by the excitement, not least in the finale that stretched into fully seven minutes of added time.

Glasgow were leading by 9-3 at half-time, and they retained that six-point cushion for more than half an hour. Then, suddenly, they were dealt a cruel blow, when Lome Fa'atau was penalised for what referee Tim Hayes called a late tackle. Yet the crowd should have been applauding a perfectly well timed hit, the Glasgow wing taking Nicolas Brusque precisely in the act of kicking. Julien Dupuy kicked that penalty, and a furious ending was set up.

But Glasgow resisted all that Biarritz could throw at them. Two saving tackles stood out - Chris O'Young catching Benjamin Thiery in full flght on the left touchline, and Andrew Henderson knocking Brusque back as the visiting full back come through the middle.

At the base of the Glasgow resistance, though, was an immense performance by the Glasgow back row, the three Bees - Beattie, Barclay and Brown. John Beattie was named official man of the match, but that honour could have gone to either John Barclay or Kelly Brown.

The triumvirate were at the heart of Glasgow's winning game throughout the match. But, as Glasgow head coach Sean Lineen remarked after the game, those three could not have achieved what they did without the platform provided by the front five. "The defence was outstanding, the scrummage was brilliant," the coach remarked.

"They played with a lot of guts," Lineen commented on the overall performance. "I'm really happy for them." And added compliments to those who were in strong voice in the stand. "The crowd were behind us."

Early on in the game Glasgow turned on the pressure when a Dan Parks kick forced a five-metre scrum. An offside penalty followed, and Parks kicked the goal. Warriors were three up after just seven minutes.

Glasgow kept taking the game to the opposition, and they almost scored again after Beattie had won turnover ball to release a surge by Moray Low and Brown. From that a Parks drop kick rebounded from a post. But a second Parks penalty goal was not long delayed - five minutes after the first, following a thrust with the two wings, Fa'atau and Hefin O'Hare, in unison.

Throughout the first quarter Biarritz were hardly ever in the Glasgow half. But on a rare venture there they cut the margin with a Dupuy penalty goal, and they almost took the lead when Ashwin Willemse chased through on a Brusque kick ahead. The Biarritz wing, though, was denied by O'Hare.

An exciting run by Fa'atau, released by Parks inside the home half, lifted the support as the wing arced over on the left flank. He could not find the supporting O'Hare, but soon after that Parks kicked a third penalty goal.

Glasgow were 9-3 up at half-time. They still 40 more minutes to turn that lead into a victory. Lineen did not reveal post-match what was said in the dressing-room break ... except that he "could it in their eyes that they believed they could do it."

They were on to achieve it, though with a few alarms on the way, as Biarritz were more in the game than they had been in the first half. Brusque was short with a penalty attempt from wide on halfway, a Damien Traille run threatened off an overthrown Glasgow lineout, and when Julien Peyrelongue chipped through to the posts Parks had to race back to save.

Glasgow held firm, with Bernard Stortoni secure under every high ball, and the ever-alert Parks was twice only inches away from cheeky interception. But the over all dominant impression on the contest was the forceful, fierce hunting by the Glasgow pack.

Biarritz were niggled by Glasgow's stonewall. That manifest in three altercations, though only one of those prompted the referee to go as far as stopping play so that he could have words with even one of the culprits, Samiu Vahafolau.

The only blemish in the second half was for Glasgow to conceded Dupuy's second penalty goal. But just about everyone in the crowd of 2194 seemed convinced that it was an unfair decision by the referee. Later, as the clock ticked beyond 80 minutes, no one in the crowd had a clue where the referee found the extra time.

Glasgow Warriors - Bernardo Stortoni; Lome Fa'atau, Andrew Henderson, Daryl Gibson, Hefin O'Hare; Dan Parks (captain), Sam Pinder; Justin Va'a, Fergus Thomson, Moray Low, Andy Newman, Dan Turner, Kelly Brown, John Barclay, John Beattie. Substitutes - Ed Kalman for Low (55 minutes), Chris O'Young for Pinder (60), Eric Milligan for Thomson (67), James Eddie for Newman (67), Scott Barrow for Gibson (77).

Biarritz Olympique - Nicolas Brusque; Ashwin Willemse, Henry Fa'ahli, Damien Traille, Benjamin Thiery; Marcelo Bosch, Julien Dupuy; Eduard Coetzee, Benjamin Noirot, Denis Avril, Jerome Thion (captain), Traveor Hall, Serge Betsen, Imanol Harinordoquoy, Samui Vahafolau. Substitutes - Benoit August for Noirot (half-time), Petru Balan for Coetzee (half-time), Jacques Cronje for Harinoroquoy (half-time), Julien Peyrelongue for Bosch (45), Pilippe Bidabe for Willemse (69), Coetzee for Avril (71), Santiago Dellape for Vahafolau (79), Fabien Cibray for Thiery (82).

Referee - Tim Hayes (Wales).

Man of the Match - John Beattie.

Attendance - 2194.