Bath Rugby head coach Gary Gold was left "furious and frustrated" after his side's push for Heineken Cup qualification took a blow with a 14-13 defeat at Sale Sharks on Friday night.
Replacement Tom Brady's try nine minutes from time proved decisive as the relegation-haunted Sharks hung on to record a vital victory.
The 22-year-old touched down to give Sale a four-point lead, with Tom Heathcote's penalty for the visitors setting up a tense finale.
Bath led 10-9 for much of the second period after fly-half Heathcote, who slotted a penalty in the first half, converted a try from wing Horacio Agulla after 53 minutes.
However, three Nick Macleod penalties kept Sale in contention and Brady's try the difference as they increased the gap between them and London Welsh at the bottom of the Aviva Premiership table to six points.
Bath, meanwhile, missed the chance to move up to fifth and Gold said: "It was incredibly frustrating to let our lead slip at the end.
"Games are won by fine margins but the guys showed great character after they were 9-3 down at half-time in difficult conditions," said Gold.
"We didn't take a couple of opportunities to go further ahead. They finished off a breakaway and that was it, the story was written.
"I am absolutely furious and very frustrated. Post-scoring all we needed to do was secure the restart and get the ball down field and put them under pressure.
"We got them pinned in their 22 for long periods of time and created pressure, so it was frustrating. I am certainly not giving up hope on anything.
"The top four has probably gone now but never say never. We are probably going to be written off by everybody now so we have a lot to prove."
