TODD Blackadder praised his Bath side as they scored three second-half tries to beat Newcastle Falcons 21-8 and top Anglo-Welsh Cup Pool One.

After a scoreless first half, Paul Grant, Nathan Charles and Jack Wilson all went over for tries to give the home side victory at the Rec.

And Blackadder would like to see his side drawn at home in the semi-finals.

He said: "I thought the first half was pretty underwhelming. In all fairness, Newcastle probably had the better of us and we were probably lucky to be 0-0 going into half-time.

"But we got on the front foot and suddenly options were available to us. I thought Freddie Burns' kicking game was exceptional.

"I thought the bench came on and played with maturity and Max Green, as a young half-back, did a really good job.

"Our goal now is to get a home semi-final. You never know what teams are going to be put out so the focus is on us to make sure we well and truly prepare for a good performance against Ospreys."

It took until the 51st minute for Bath to score the first points of the afternoon when they attacked from a scrum before Grant twisted and turned his way out of contact to score and Freddie Burns slotted a simple conversion.

As the game opened up in the final quarter, gaps started to appear for both sides to exploit.

Quick hands from Ben Tapuai and Grant set Matt Banahan free down the left and his looping offload was gathered by replacement hooker Charles for a converted try.

Number eight Ryan Burrows found winger Adam Radwan, who was well-tackled by Jack Wilson but managed to find replacement Craig Willis on his inside. The conversion was missed - meaning Falcons trailed by five.

Bath put the result beyond doubt three minutes from time. After softening up the visitors with a rumbling maul, Burns found Wilson with a pinpoint crossfield kick.

The unmarked winger did not even need to break stride as he flopped over the tryline.

Newcastle academy manager and first-team skills coach, Mark Laycock, said: "We're pretty frustrated with that. We felt that we stuck to our game plan and showed a huge amount of endeavour.

"They ultimately got the tries they needed to go on and win the game.

"Our defence was fantastic and we were creating line breaks and supporting those line breaks. We thought it was 98 per cent a fantastic performance."