Celtic League/ Ospreys 29 Ulster 22: Ulster head coach Mark McCall is still confident his team can retain the Magners Celtic League title despite their defeat at the Ospreys on Saturday.
Scottish wing Nikki Walker touched down twice for the Welsh region while Ospreys' outhalf Shaun Connor kicked 19 points to deny the Ulstermen the chance of going back to the top of the table.
Leinster's 44-34 win over Llanelli Scarlets at Donnybrook on Friday night knocked Ulster from top spot into second, but with seven games left, McCall says the narrow gap can be closed, especially after leaving Swansea with a losing bonus point.
"That was a big home win for Leinster on Friday, while that was our third away game in a row, but we have the small consolation of a bonus point," said McCall, who was left to regret his side's mistakes after a forward pass robbed them of a late try to win the game.
"We are two points behind Leinster with seven games to go, but we have more home games than them. We are still in the hunt.
"We created a number of opportunities but weren't able to capitalise on them. It made matters doubly worse that they went the length of the field a couple of times from our mistakes.
"At times we were far from perfect, but we bounced back into contention and we were only a forward pass away from sneaking the lead at the end. It's just been the story of the month for us: we have created chances, we just haven't taken them."
Both Ospreys tries came after Ulster had enjoyed periods of sustained pressure in the opposition half only to turn over possession as the Welsh region exploited mistakes.
After Connor and Ulster's Paul Steinmetz swapped penalties, the scores were delicately poised at 9-6 to the Welsh after the game's first quarter. But the mercurial Connor ghosted through the defence and lobbed a high pass to captain Paul James, who put Nikki Walker over in the corner for a converted try.
Ulster will have David Humphreys back for their next game, against the Dragons, but the faultless Steinmetz was a more than adequate replacement and kicked penalties either side of half-time to leave his side in the hunt at 16-12 just after the break.
The Ulstermen were wearing down the Ospreys with pressure in their opponents' territory, but Connor broke from a turnover and handed on to hooker Huw Bennett, who fed Walker for a long-range try.
Connor landed the conversion before Steinmetz kicked his fifth penalty of the night to leave Ulster trailing 23-15.
Connor extended the Ospreys' lead with a penalty, but straight from the restart Ulster's Stephen Ferris seized possession and charged over to put the guests right back in the game at 26-22 with 20 minutes left.
Only a forward pass robbed Ulster of a late chance to steal the lead, but Connor slotted a drop goal on the final whistle to make sure of the win.
Travelling Irish fans would have noted the less-than-impressive 60 minutes from Ospreys full-back Gavin Henson, who had been earmarked for the Wales number 15 shirt against Ireland on Sunday.
But a few missed tackles and some woeful kicking will have forced the watching Welsh coach, Gareth Jenkins, into a hasty rethink.
OSPREYS: G Henson; N Walker, T Selley, A Bishop, R Mustoe; S Connor, J Marshall; P James, H Bennett, A Millward; B Cockbain, M Powell; A Lloyd, R Pugh, J Thomas. Replacements: S Terblanche for Henson (52 mins); C Griffiths for Millward, B Williams for Bennett (both 62 mins); S Tandy for Pugh (67 mins); L Beach for Lloyd (82 mins)
ULSTER: M Bartholomeusz; T Bowe, P Steinmetz, K Maggs, P McKenzie; A Larkin, K Campbell; J Fitzpatrick, P Shields, B Young; J Harrison, T Barker; S Ferris, K Dawson, R Wilson. Replacements: B Cunningham for Larkin (52 mins); S Philpott for Ferris (78 mins); S Young for McKenzie (79 mins).
Referee: Peter Allen(Scotland).
