At the Memorial Ground they drink their beer from a two-pint pot, so even when it is half empty they are happy, but after watching Bristol stumble to their fifth defeat in the Premiership this season and eleventh in a row, West Country optimism was tested. Bristol grabbed a bonus point, but it is only the second point they have managed this season. They are relegation favourites already, but they are not far away on the pitch. Place-kicking was their biggest problem yesterday.

Maybe Saracens, at the other end of the table after a third consecutive win may have found another gear, but they did not need one because Glen Jackson slotted three penalties after half-time to give them a 20-10 lead after an hour, while Bristol missed four straightforward kicks. Adrian Jarvis pulled three and Ed Barnes the fourth. The hard toil of their forwards and flashes from the Arscott brothers, Luke and Tom, went to waste.

The Saracens pack, usually battered here, started in dominant fashion. Bristol, penalised twice in the first four minutes, allowed their scrum to be turned ten metres out under their posts. Saracens got the put-in, Michael Owen broke and a flat pass to Kameli Ratuvou allowed him to go over in the corner unopposed.

But Saracens did not clear the restart and Bristol struck back after five minutes of pressure with David Lemi wriggling over to the left of the posts from a pass by Ed Barnes. Adrian Jarvis converted and then extended the lead with a penalty goal, but Saracens had it back by the 37th minute with two penalties by Jackson.

It should have been more after Ratuvou scythed through the middle during a 50-metre break, only for Hugh Vyvyan to knock on 15 metres from the line. Bristol finished both halves hammering away at the Saracens line, but they are producing more heat than light at the moment.

Bristol: Try: Lemi (26). Conversion: Jarvis. Penalty goals: Jarvis (31), Barnes 2 (71, 77). Saracens: Try: Ratuvou (21). Penalty goals: Jackson 5 (33, 37, 42, 55, 61). Dropped goal: Jackson 73.

Scoring sequence (Bristol first): 0-5, 7-5, 10-5, 10-8, 10-11 (half-time) 10-14, 10-17, 10-20, 13-20, 13-23, 16-23.

Bristol: L Arscott; T Arscott, N Brew, E Barnes, D Lemi; A Jarvis, G Beveridge; A Clarke, S Linklater, J Hobson (rep: P Bracken 62), M Sambucetti (rep: R Sidoli 60), N Budgett, A To’oala, J El Abd, D Ward-Smith (rep: A Blowers 60).

Saracens: R Haughton (rep: M Rauluni, 41); R Penney, K Sorrell (rep: D Barrell, 78), A Powell (rep: C Wyles, 27), K Ratuvou; G Jackson, N de Kock; M Aguero, F Ongaro (rep: M Cairns, 65) C Johnston (rep: C Visagie, 73), S Borthwick, H Vyvyan (rep: K Chesney, 73), B Skirving (sin-bin, 70-80+2), A Saull, M Owen.

Referee: T Wigglesworth.

Attendance: 7,250.