Familiarity having bred anything but contempt, Saracens have developed new respect for Scottish rugby and these Glasgow Warriors in particular after being pushed all the way in yesterday's European Challenge Cup quarter-final.

They may have emerged unbeaten from the sides' three meetings in this competition, but two single-score wins either side of the drawn match at Hughenden hardly represent domination for one of the best sides in the English Premiership.

"I'd like to give Glasgow a lot of credit, they played some exceptional rugby and could have easily stolen the game," said Alan Gaffney, the Saracens head coach. "A lot of people think they play a bit of helter-skelter rugby, such as Edinburgh, but they play with a lot more control."

For the visitors, there was bitter regret at failing to grab an opportunity to pull off a major shock.

"I'm really proud of the guys, especially for the way they came back in the second half, but we're sitting in that changing room knowing we could have beaten one of the form sides in Europe," said Sean Lineen, their coach. "I just wish they could have performed for the full 80 minutes, but that's only a nine-point spread across the three games against what is an excellent side."

Al Kellock, the Warriors captain, felt they had generated the momentum to see them home when they got within a score with plenty of time left. "I thought we could have won it and we were exactly where you want to be to win a game like this away from home," he said. "But we didn't really get ourselves in position to do it."

On a pitch graced by Didier Drogba and co. when Chelsea visited the previous day, Warriors were up against almost the rugby equivalent; Saracens boasting some of the game's most revered figures in Thomas Castaignede, Richard Hill and Andy Farrell.

In glorious conditions, it looked like Saracens might enjoy their day in the sun as they leapt into a 13-point lead. Kellock was culpable for the first penalty, making a tackle from a blatantly offside position at a ruck to hand Glen Jackson an easy opportunity to open the scoring and he doubled the advantage after Euan Murray was penalised for collapsing a scrum.

What is fast becoming a major problem for Scottish sides, interception scores, then struck again as Jackson whisked a Dan Parks pass out of the air to provide Dan Scarborough with an easy run in.

An always challenging task now looked nigh on impossible, giving such a lead to a team that had lost only one of their previous nine matches in all competitions, but the Warriors got on the scoreboard with a brace of Parks penalties.

Jackson struck again after Kellock was again penalised, this time for an early tackle and along with Simon Raiwalui, his fellow captain, the lock was then spoken to at length after the two captains gave the wrong sort of lead when a bout of pushing and shoving threatened to spill into something more nasty.

The novice captain demonstrated he is learning fast, however, ostentatiously offering a handshake to the Fijian and his side was awarded the penalty, but from close to halfway Parks could not find the target.

He did so five minutes into injury time with the last kick of the half, though, and there continued to be real edge to the game, John Beattie getting himself sent to the sin bin with three-time British & Irish Lion Hill after another touch judge intervention to deal with a skirmish a long way from play.

In their absence, Saracens scored what looked the decisive try after Andy Farrell broke a Graeme Morrison tackle 15 metres out. The former Great Britain Rugby League star was stumbling as he went through, and fell just short of the line, but managed to release the ball to Kameli Ratuvou at point-blank range.

Parks soon notched a fourth penalty and Warriors got right back in it when Lamont rewarded some good ball retention at a series of rucks by bursting clear 35 metres out and stepping past Castaignede to go in at the posts.

A full quarter of the game remained and while concern was growing among the home support, those in the 4259 crowd who had travelled down with the Warriors were beginning to make themselves heard.

The players' confidence was growing, too, so much so that when Hefin O'Hare fielded a ball in goal, he shocked the opposition by launching an audacious counterattack, Beattie and Steve Swindall supporting before the move broke down inside the Saracens 22.

However, they were then pinned in their own half as the home side played down the clock intelligently, although the match ended with the Warriors attacking again, until Farrell intercepted an Evans pass to prevent further danger.