Josh McKay marked his return to action with a try and teh player-of-the-match award

Zebre will rue a number of missed opportunities in a first-half but only had two Giacomo da Re penalties to show for their efforts at the break.

Second-half tries from Josh McKay and Stafford McDowall secured the win that lifts Glasgow back above the Bulls, who had moved into second place after their 16-13 win away to Munster earlier in the day.

Stand-off Da Re gave Zebre an eighth-minute lead with a penalty and the hosts thought they were over for a try when Giovanni Licata went over under the posts. However, replays showed he'd dropped the ball in the act of touching down.

Shortly after, Scott Gregory also let the ball slip out his grasp as he crossed the line, but the home side did add to their lead on 30 minutes through another Da Re penalty.

Early in the second period, Zebre's Matteo Canali was yellow-carded for head contact on Sebastian Cancelliere and Glasgow took immediate advantage, with full-back McKay going in at the left corner and Tom Jordan nailing the tricky conversion.

Moments later Glasgow's replacement prop made a lovely dummy to break through the Zebre defence to be stopped just short of the line but Glasgow recysled to put McDowell in under the posts seconds before Canali's return. Jordan kicked the extras to make it 14-6.

The remainder of the match was an untidy affair with Glasgow doing just enough to leave Italy with the win.

Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith told Premier Sports: "We know how much Zebre have improved.

"They slowed down our breakdowns and made it difficult for us to create momentum, so all credit to them.

"To get the win, a hard-fought win... could we have scored more points? I definitely think so.

"It's a hard place now to come and win. Nobody wants to lose against an Italian team, but we'll take the four points.

"I'm proud of the character of the team. We stuck to our guns.

"I know there were a few boys who haven't played for a while, some new entries from injury, and we had to bounce back from a tough week from a mental perspective. We're proud of what we did."

On the turnaround in the second period, Smith added: "Everybody must just understand what needs to be done, which areas of the game are they slowing us down or do they have the edge on us. I thought the way we distributed the game between mauling and playing with the ball in hand caught up with them."

A positive for Glasgow was the return from injury of hooker Gregor Hiddleston and full-back Josh McKay who picked up the Player of the Match award.

"He worked hard and was diligent, as well as Gregor who was back tonight and put a good shift in for 70 minutes, so really proud," Smith said.

"We'll see now how we can progress and add some other bodies back in. Hopefully we are blessed with no further injuries."