Premiership: Bristol Bears 20-13 Harlequins

Bristol moved within one point of Harlequins after a hard-fought win over the Londoners at Ashton Gate.

Joe Marler was sin-binned early in a tight second half as Madigan kicked three penalties and Lang got one back.

Madigan added a fifth penalty as neither side threatened to score a try.

Quins dominated the early possession and were rewarded when England scrum-half Care picked up at the back of a maul to dive over after just six minutes.

James Lang's penalty increased the lead but, from then on, Bristol dominated. Madigan's penalty after 18 minutes was followed soon after by a yellow card for Quins' Ben Tapuai as he failed to release on the ground when the hosts tried to break away.

The Bears made three times as many metres as the visitors in the first 40 minutes, but dropped three great chances to score from inside the visitors' red zone.

It took a great break by Harry Thacker to set up O'Connor to go over five minutes before half time and, although Madigan missed the conversion, he was on target with a penalty in stoppage time as Bristol deservedly led at the break.

An attritional second half saw few try-scoring chances as bad weather closed in.

Marler's yellow card came after his non-ball carrying arm made contact with Andy Uren's head. That allowed Bristol to pull clear as Madigan again proved faultless from the tee.

Paul Lasike was sent to the sin-bin with two minutes to go after a no-arm hit on a Bristol player.

The Bears now have eight points from four games and are behind Quins in the table by virtue of the losing bonus point Paul Gustard's side picked up.

Bristol head coach Pat Lam:

"We are getting better week by week but we are still waiting to click, although the character in each of the four games has been tremendous.

"We didn't manage the game very well in the first half as we went 10-0 down by not kicking the ball out of our own half.

"After that we showed a bit more balance but it still wasn't perfect as we made some frustrating errors. We could have been further ahead and it would have been better for my heart.

"We made mistakes at key moments but our discipline was better as we brought in referee Tony Spreadbury during the week to advise us in key areas."

Harlequins head coach Paul Gustard:

"After playing appropriately in the wet conditions to go 10-0 up, we conspired to do daft things and crucially conceded a penalty count of 13-6 and gave away three or four key line-outs.

"We have got something from each of our four games by showing some resilience but just one win is not good enough. We've tried everything to turn our fortunes around - but we haven't succeeded yet.

"We are not doing enough of the basics right. Our ill-discipline gave them easy territory and took energy away from us.

"Chris Robshaw spoke well in the changing room afterwards as it's hurting for him with 240 games for us under his belt. He indicated that we are not playing at the standard expected from us."

Bristol: O'Conor; Morahan, Hurrell, Piutau, Leiua; Madigan, Uren; Thomas, Thacker, Afoa, Holmes, Vui, Luatua (capt), Smith, Crane.

Replacements: Fenton-Wells, Woolmore, Armstrong, Joyce, Lam, Randall, Sheedy, Kirchner.

Harlequins: Morris; Earle, Marchant; Tapuai, Ross Chisholm; Lang, Care; Marler, Crumpton, Sinckler, Symons, Glynn, Wallace, Robshaw (capt), Chisholm

Replacements: Ward, Lambert, Swainston, South, Bothma, Mulchrone, Smith, Lasike.

Referee: Ian Tempest.