The Edinburgh Gunners finally got back to winning ways in the Celtic League with a 35-18 triumph over the Llanelli Scarlets but they were far from their best at Murrayfield.

The win brought an end to a run of four successive defeats for the hosts and kept them in touch with those sides leading the chase for the title.

The Scarlets’ Gareth Bowen missed a relatively easy chance to open the scores with his boot and they were made to pay as the Gunners with first Simon Webster and then prop Craig Smith crossing for five-pointers, with Chris Paterson converting the latter.

The Scarlets finally got on the board with a penalty by Bowen, followed by a superb score from Dafydd James after a slick passage of passing.

The visitors looked to continue their good work after the re-start but they met some stern defence from the Gunners, but they found themselves down to 14-men after only a few minutes when substitute Ally Strokosch was sent to the sin-bin for playing the ball in an offside position.

The standard of the game appeared to suffer as the half wore on with penalties occuring on both sides that saw Paterson land three in succession while substitute Mike Hercus could only manage one.

The game came alive again in the last ten minutes with Strokosch and Webster grabbing further scores for Edinburgh either side of a try for the Scarlets’ Mark Jones – which were converted by Paterson and Hercus respectively.