Exeter moved up to third in the Premiership table with a 24-17 win over Gloucester at Sandy Park.

A Harvey Skinner penalty stretched Exeter's lead to 10 points in a cagey second half.

Gloucester rescued a losing bonus point through a Santiago Carreras penalty in the last play of the match.

The visitors started the afternoon ahead of Exeter in fourth by just a point, having both won six and lost six matches this season so far.

Yet the win saw Exeter leapfrog the Cherry and Whites, who drop to fifth and continue to struggle away from home, having only won twice on the road since last January.

Scotland lock Gray opened the scoring for the Chiefs after 10 minutes, powering over from close range following an attacking scrum, after a check from the television match official confirmed he got the ball down.

Gloucester quickly drew level from a scrum of their own, moving the ball wide into the hands of May, who ran over unchallenged.

The scores continued to bounce back and forth, with centre Kata rolling over between two defenders to make it 14-7 for Exeter before Rapava Ruskin drew the Cherry and Whites level again from a driving maul.

Winger Woodburn had the final say before the break for Exeter, evading a tackle on the line for his seventh try of the season.

Exeter upped the pressure early in the second half and Skinner added a penalty for the hosts, but the match became scrappy as the sides traded kicks for long periods and struggled to string together any sustained attacks.

Jack Nowell narrowly missed a long pass that would have seen him surely score as Exeter pushed for the bonus-point try, but the match fizzled out before Carreras kicked a last-minute consolation for Gloucester.

Exeter head coach Ali Hepher told BBC Radio Devon:

"We knew over this period that home form was going to be key for us and we've negotiated it well, five wins I think it is in this block of eight. Really pleased with that.

"Really chuffed with the way the guys stuck to the game plan, we didn't really give them too many opportunities which we've got to try and starve them of because they can be dangerous with their set piece and their maul.

"It would have been nice to get the bonus point but we didn't quite get there. We started well and we got those three tries in the first half which put us in good stead but not quite the bonus point."

Gloucester head coach George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"I don't think we were accurate enough through the game really. When we got down near their try line we pretty much scored every time, the problem was we didn't get down there very often.

"It was a really tough game of rugby, very physical. I think you could see the state the players walked off in in both teams, it was tough out there and I think Exeter were just a bit more clinical than us.

"It was probably in the balance in different periods, we had opportunities in the end to be in the corner and we weren't quite accurate enough and didn't get the opportunity to strike."

Exeter Chiefs: Hodge, Nowell, Whitten, Kata, Woodburn, Skinner, S. Maunder; Sio, Innard, Williams, Gray, Jenkins, Ewers, Kirsten, Fisilau.

Replacements: Frost, Kenny, Schickerling, Dunne, Davis, J. Maunder, Simmonds, O'Loughlin.

Gloucester: Carreras, May, Harris, Atkinson, Thorley, Twelvetrees, Meehan; Rapava-Ruskin, Blake, Gotovtsev, Jordan, Alemanno, Clement, Ludlow (c), Tuisue.

Replacements: Walker, Elrington, Ford-Robinson, Clarke, Morgan, Chapman, Seabrook, Evans.

Referee: Tom Foley.