Our first league win of the season ends a five-year wait for a win over Bath that has seen us lose nine times in a row against the West Country side, however a simply incredible performance means that hoodoo is now over.

Jon Golding, Rob Vickerman and, surprisingly, Adam Balding were fit to start the game alongside the returning Rob Vickers, and Will Welch kept his place at openside after a solid home debut against Albi, and Bath named the former Newcastle trio of David Barnes, David Wilson and Michael Stephenson on the bench.

Despite Bath knocking on about five times in the early minutes, we initially struggled to make any progress. However, around the quarter hour we put together a good spell of possession, Balding and Tane Tu'ipulotu putting on some good charges, and a promising move only ended when Vickers was harshly judged to have knocked on.

Jimmy Gopperth missed two penalties and Matt Banahan was controversially let off for a loud, high, late hit on Tulip, but it was the much-travelled Nicky Little who opened the scoring with a penalty.

Although the Falcons were playing some nice rugby with a good amount of possession, I couldn't escape my usual away game feeling that Bath were always dangerous and a try was just around the corner.

Just minutes after Little's penalty, Matt Carrera powered down the right and touched down just before Vickerman could put him into touch.

Although the conversion went wide, Bath seemed on their way. Except, just before half-time, Gopperth set up Charlie Amesbury on the right, and our full-back fought through tackles until Mark Sorenson drove him over for the score.

The conversion left us a point down at the break. Although we looked capable of putting moves together and scoring more tries, Bath also looked likely to score every time they got the ball, so defence was going to be key for us in the second half.

Thus it was hugely deflating when, just minutes after the break, Tu'ipulotu sent an aimless kick downfield and when Bath countered home captain Michael Claassens wrong-footed Danny Williams to score from close range.

Yet our Falcons are nothing if not unpredictable and a fluent move to the left saw Bath's defence stretched, allowing second-last man James Hudson, a colossus all day, to score easily. Gopperth's conversion went agonisingly wide, denying us a first lead of the day.

Bath of course looked to extend their lead – Tom Biggs made a truly try-saving interception on the far left, but knocked on, and for a second I feared the referee would point upwards and send the winger off for a deliberate knock-on, but Dean Richards, who had a decent game, realised Biggs had tried to catch the ball and correctly gave Bath a scrum.

On the hour, a loose pass in our 22 was caught by Micky Young. If I was jumping up and down shouting “Run, leg it, don't look back, run!” in the commentary box, from where I'm probably now banned, I imagine the away fans in the stands were even more animated, and England's next scrum-half outpaced Bath's backs to score our third try.

Gopperth added the extras to give the Falcons a 13-19 lead, and though replacement Ryan Davis knocked over a drop-goal, the grey 'n' whites were now in control and Gopperth kicked a penalty to reaffirm the six-point lead and deflate the hosts.

The icing came with ten minutes left – the mercurial Gopperth chipped through to the left and with almost everyone in the ground, including most of the players I suspect, distracted by two defenders cynically blocking Biggs' run, Amesbury stole in behind to touch down on the tryline and send all of us with black hearts potty!

The conversion wasn't on target but it mattered little. Bath were now panicking and had lost all cohesion. Only one set of fans were singing and they weren't wearing blue with their black and white, and after the final whistle they all celebrated with the team in front of the open stand.

16-27. A bonus point win at Bath, who'd have imagined that after the Saracens game? At New Year, if someone had offered a 0-3 win at Bristol and no other away league wins this year I think a lot of us would've been chuffed with that. We now have four wins away from home, three of which have yielded bonus points while the other saw us score three tries!

A reminder that our boys are as capable of the sublime as they are of the ridiculous.

There were some top performances today, from the towering Hayman, Sorenson and Hudson, through Will Welch who was everywhere he was needed and Danny Williams who never stopped running.

Rob Vickerman tackled like his life depended on it and Jimmy 'The Wizard' Gopperth controlled his side like a puppet master. Since Kev asked me for a man of the match, I went for Micky Young, who seems to have returned to form. His passing was sharp, he was a nuisance to Bath for the 70 minutes he was on the pitch and apart from his 80-metre try, the cherry was the smallest man on the pitch hauling down 6'5” Jack Cuthbert, who had just beaten three tackles.

It's just one game, and Worcester next week remains massive. But I'm looking forward to rediscovering that feeling that comes with waking up the morning after a league win tomorrow morning. It's been a long seven months.

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