Harlequins head of rugby Paul Gustard was disappointed his side couldn’t put on a show for the fans who returned to Twickenham Stoop for Saturday’s defeat at the hands of Bath.

The fixture was the first Gallagher Premiership match to welcome back supporters since rugby’s restart in mid-August and a crowd of around 2,700 saw the visitors keep their play-off hopes alive with a 41-29 victory.

The home faithful saw their side make a bright start as centre Joe Marchant latched on to Danny Care’s chip to give Quins the lead.

Brett Heron and Rhys Priestland each slotted two penalties before Bath forged ahead with tries from Ruaridh McConnochie and Elliott Stooke.

England wing McConnochie doubled his tally early in the second half and Priestland added two more penalties to stretch the visitors’ lead to 21 points and leave the outcome beyond doubt.

Quins replacement Martin Landajo weaved over to reduce the deficit but Bath hit back with their bonus-point score courtesy of Lewis Boyce.

The hosts had the last word through James Lang’s try but it was scant consolation for a below-par Quins.

Gustard said: "I'm sad for the board, I'm sad for the club and I'm sad for the fans, but also I'm massively sad for the team because they weren't able to put the performance in.

"I'm disappointed with the performance. It's sad that we had fans back in here but didn't get the result we want.

"From the point of view of normality, it was great to see a crowd back. For the first 20 minutes we gave them something to cheer about, for the next 50 we didn't.”

Gloucester’s victory over London Irish later on Saturday saw Quins slip to eighth, 14 points off a play-off spot with just four matches to play.

Quins have the novelty of an ‘away’ game at the Stoop on Wednesday night against London Irish, currently sharing the stadium before moving to their new home in Brentford, but Gustard admitted a semi-final spot now appears beyond his side no matter what happens from here.

"Making the top four seems very tough now,” he said.

“The top four are pulling away now and leaving people like ourselves behind."