Scrum-half Jack Oliver, thrust on after just five minutes when Ben Afshar failed his HIA, and winger Fergus Watson, named man of the match, both caught the eye, to keep the head coach sweet.

“The [positives] were the way we reacted to what needed to be done,” said Smith. “The young boys, they’re very coachable and weren’t fazed by the first 15 minutes, basically. We clawed our way back in. It’s not easy when you play a team of this stature and the way they started, physically dominant in the scrum. There was dominance from an attacking perspective, so you end up giving two tries away for nothing. You can easily go in your shell and it becomes a long evening. If you take Jack Dempsey out of it, it was a very young team, so that is what I am most proud of.These boys have worked hard in pre-season and tonight the character that they showed is what we’re about. We won’t win all the games but we’ll fight in every game and I think they showed that.”

The majority of the players who were involved on either the Scotland or British and Irish Lions summer tours were again rested but Smith said he expects to have most available for the first URC game of the season against the Sharks in a fortnight’s time.

“I think we’ll have a full deck to choose from, if everybody’s healthy,” he added. “Gregor Brown would have been involved tonight. We withdrew him this morning just to prevent his current injury becoming chronic. Most of the boys that are not currently on the injury list will be available for selection.”

Glasgow struggled early on and shipped two soft tries as Callum Chick and then Tom Pearson powered their way through beyond some half-hearted tackling attempts. Pearson would claim his second in similar fashion later in the half, before a looping ball wide from Anthony Belleau found George Hendy to stroll over unmarked in the corner for Saints’ fourth of a frenetic first half.

Warriors did at least rally from 14-0 down, buoyed by a brace of lightning line breaks from Watson that creating openings for first Dan Lancaster and then Oliver to score. Their third and fourth tries came in more conventional fashion with hooker Gregor Hiddleston crashing over both times– the first from the line-out maul, the second after good work by Macenzzie Duncan – to give Glasgow a half-time lead that had looked unlikely after Saints’ storming start.

That advantage was wiped out early in the second period when Edoardo Todaro teed up Hendy to crash over for his second score of the match before Dempsey went off as part of four Glasgow changes, the back-rower lasting 48 minutes on his return after six months out. The second half wasn’t anywhere near as frenzied as the first. Glasgow were the team on top for the most part and that sustained pressure and some reckless Saints defending led to Luke Green being shown the yellow card for one team penalty too many.

Glasgow soon took advantage, with Johnny Matthews collecting the ball off the back of the maul and scurrying over the line to usher Warriors back in front. The home side saved their best try for last. Ollie Smith fed Matthew Urwin who danced around a would-be tackler before bolting for the line and then setting up McKay who dotted down to confirm the win.

Teams –

 Glasgow Warriors: J McKay, F Watson (B Jackson 75), K Johnston (B Salmon 75), K Yule, O Smith, D Lancaster (M Urwin 67), B Afshar (J Oliver 5); N McBeth (J Shearer 67), G Hiddleston (J Matthews 48), F Richardson (S Talakai 48), M Williamson (J Oguntibeju 48), A Samuel, E Ferrie, M Duncan, J Dempsey (A Fraser 48)

Replacements: J Ventisei, J Bhatti, S Stephen, D Cockburn, A Bryden

Northampton Saints: J Ramm, E Todaro, R Hutchinson, T Thame, A Caqusau, A Belleau, A McParland; E Iyogun, C Wright, C Kundiona, E Prowse, T Lockett, T Pearson, S Graham, C Chick

Replacements: H Walker, D Fischetti, E Millar Mills, O Scola, L Green, C Munga, A Scott-Young, A Benson, F Brown, J Weimann, T James, J Pater, J Martin, T Litchfield, T Rowe, G Hendy

Referee: Ruairidh Campbell

Scorers –

Glasgow: Tries: Lancaster, Oliver, Hiddleston 2, Matthews, Mcay; Cons: Lancaster 4, Urwin

Saints: Tries: Chick, Pearson 2, Hendy 2; Cons: Belleau 3

Scoring sequence (Glasgow first): 0-5, 0-7, 0-12, 0-14, 5-14, 5-19, 10-19, 12-19, 12-24, 17-24, 19-24, 24-24, 26-24, (h-t), 26-29, 26-31, 31-31, 33-31, 38-31, 40-31

Yellow card:

Saints: Luke Green (62 mins)