Three tries for the Ospreys including two for Morgan Allen lead to a 24-7 victory over Edinburgh at the Liberty Stadium on Friday.
Nick De Luca saw red four minutes from time to add misery to the Scots as they slipped to their 10th straight defeat in all competitions.
Two tries from number eight and man of the match Morgan Allen and one from scrum-half Rhys Webb were enough to see the Ospreys home. The Edinburgh try came from flanker Hamish Watson.
The win saw the Ospreys climb back into the play-off places even though they failed to gain a bonus point. Ospreys skipper Kahn Fotuali'i swapped from scrum-half to wing to fill in the position left by Ross Jones' three-week ban for a tip tackle against Connacht. That meant Webb and Matthew Morgan were named at half-back.
Edinburgh, who were forced into one late change with Andy Titterrell replacing injured hooker Steve Lawrie, included Wales internationals Richie Rees and John Yapp.
Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley named nine players aged 23 or younger as a consequence of international call-ups and injuries
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The Ospreys got on the scoreboard after only seven minutes when some good momentum up field ended with lock Jonathan Thomas putting over Allen for a try converted by Matthew Morgan.
Edinburgh's cause was not helped that fly-half Harry Leonard missed a penalty from 30 metres out and then De Luca knocked on just short of the left corner.
And with the visitors continuing to give away penalties the Ospreys scored a second try through Allen, who went over following pressure from a line-out. Fly-half Morgan converted to make it 14-0 after the first quarter.
The Ospreys continued to dominate and the only surprise was that they failed to add to their lead ahead of half-time.
Even more of a surprise was that Edinburgh scored a try in the final minute before half-time when openside flanker Hamish Watson went over after the Scots created an overlap on the left. Leonard added the extras.
Both Leonard and Morgan missed kickable penalty shots at the start of the second half.
But in the space of three minutes the Ospreys extended their lead to 24-7.
First Morgan kicked a penalty after Edinburgh centre Ben Atiga had been sin-binned before scrum-half Webb crossed for the third try, converted by Morgan.
The scorers:
Ospreys:
Tries: Allen 2, Webb
Cons: Morgan 3
Pens: Morgan
Edinburgh:
Try: Watson
Con: Leonard
Red Card: De Luca
The teams:
Ospreys: 15 Richard Fussell, 14 Tom Habberfield, 13 Tom Isaacs, 12 Jonathan Spratt, 11 Kahn Fotuali'i (c), 10 Matthew Morgan, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Morgan Allen, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 James King, 5 Jonathan Thomas, 4 Lloyd Peers, 3 Cai Griffiths, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Ryan Bevington.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Dwyer, 17 Marc Thomas, 18 Dmitri Arhip, 19 Sam Williams, 20 George Stowers, 21 Arthur Ellis, 22 Ashley Beck, 23 Tom Grabham
Edinburgh: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Ben Atiga, 11 Lee Jones, 10 Harry Leonard, 9 Richie Rees, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Stuart McInally, 5 Sean Cox (capt), 4 Perry Parker, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Steven Lawrie, 1 John Yapp.
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Allan Jacobsen, 18 Alex Allan, 19 Robert McAlpine, 20 Chris Leck, 21 Piers Francis, 22 Ben Cairns, 23 Tom Brown.
Referee: David Wilkinson (Ireland)
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