Gregor Townsend insists Glasgow Warriors’ pride is on the line in the RaboDirect PRO12 clash against Treviso after their European heartbreak last weekend.

The Warriors fell to a 9-7 Heineken Cup defeat against Cardiff Blues in what was their third successive defeat at home.

And ahead of their Friday night game at home to the Italians head coach Townsend is calling for a response.

“The Cardiff defeat was really hard to take but that is now three home defeats in succession and that is not acceptable,” he told the Glasgow Evening Times.

"The bottom line is that we have Treviso coming to Scotstoun on Friday and our pride is on the line.

"Of course we are hurting that the Heineken Cup is over for another season but we can't allow that to upset our PRO12 bid.

"There is no time to feel sorry for ourselves, we have to redouble our efforts and make sure that we produce our best on Friday."

Al Kellock is a doubt for the game after suffering an arm injury in the game against the Blues, while Sean Lamont and Jonny Gray remain out – but neither require operations on their respective ligament and ankle injuries.

The Warriors have slipped to two defeats in their last four RaboDirect PRO12 fixtures, dropping them from top of the table to third.

They won ten successive home games at Scotstoun between December 2012 and October 2013, however since then they have lost their last three matches at the venue in all tournaments.

The Scotsmen have been victorious in their last eight contests with Italian opponents, though, since Treviso won 15-13 at Firhill on September 23, 2011.

Treviso are winless in their last four RaboDirect PRO12 encounters since beating Connacht 23-3 at Stadio Monigo in round five, although they did draw 26-26 at home to Cardiff Blues last time out. The Italians have won only one away game in any competition in 2013: 41-17 at the Scarlets in the PRO12 in round 22 last season.

Treviso's most recent victory in Scotland came against Edinburgh at Murrayfield in October 2012 but it has been all change at the top since then.

Marius Goosen this week replaced former head coach Franco Smith and the South African is keen to get back to the drawing board.

He told Rugby People: "It's a delicate situation for the team, we need to start on a new path. For me it's an interesting adventure but at the same time the change has come as a shock.

"We need to go back to basics, for example on first phase attack and the players will be given greater responsibility in the decision-making.”

At Scotstoun Stadium, 7.35pm.
Referee: Claudio Blessano (FIR, 5th competition game)
Assistant Referees: David Changleng, Bob Nevins (both SRU)
Citing Commissioner: John Kirk (SRU)