Replacement fly-half Ed Barnes kicked a 73rd minute penalty to earn Bristol a deserved 23-23 Guinness Premiership draw at The memorial Ground.

In a tight game that neither side can claim they deserved to win, Wasps took the lead when they were awarded a penalty try with 15 minutes left on the clock.

But Bristol, who had earlier scored three tries through brothers Luke and Tom Arscott, refused to concede a game they had dominated for long periods of the first half and were duly rewarded when Barnes calmly slotted his penalty.

The result kept alive Bristol's unbeaten home record that goes back to March, but the two points for each side will do little to boost their standings in the Premiership table.

In addition to the penalty try, Eoin Reddan touched down for Wasps and Danny Cipriani (pictured) added two conversions and three penalties.

Despite their European form, Wasps made a slow start to the Premiership when they had so many players away on World Cup duty.

And they can be forgiven for thinking they had a good chance of getting their campaign back on track when Reddan touched down after some excellent work by Ricky Flutey down the right touch line.

Cipriani added the conversion to go with his third-minute penalty to put Wasps 10-ahead with as many minutes played.

But they had not counted on a Bristol side that is nothing if not resilient these days under head coach Richard Hill, and in Luke Arscott they had a player more than happy to take the game to Wasps.

Within five minutes Luke Arscott had cut Wasps' lead when he cut a beautiful line to take a pop pass from his brother to score the first of his two tries.

Ten minutes later, the flying wing chased his own kick ahead and when Wasps full-back Mark Van Gisbergen made a hash of gathering the ball, Luke Arscott hacked on and won the race to the loose ball.

Jason Strange and Cipriani swapped penalties before the interval and Bristol went into half-time with a deserved 15-13 lead.

Wasps lock Richard Birkett was sin-binned soon after the restart and the home side took advantage of his absence by working a try for Tom Arscott, which gave them a handy seven-point lead.

Cipriani cut the deficit with his third penalty in the 52nd minute and, after a long period camped on Bristol's line, Wasps were rewarded with a penalty try when the home side collapsed yet another scrum. A simple conversion for Cipriani put the visitors 23-20.

But when Wasps were penalised for interfering with a Bristol jumper at the lineout, Barnes - on for Strange soon after the interval - was on target with the equalising penalty.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport