Wasps' Phil Vickery hands off Edinburgh's Mike Blair during their clash at Adams Park
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Match Pack: Castres exact revenge on Leinster

Matches: Wasps 19 - 11 Edinburgh

Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup | Heineken Cup

Teams: Edinburgh | England | Scotland | Wasps

London Wasps beat Edinburgh 19-11 in their Heineken Cup Pool 2 clash at Adams Park.

Fly-half Dave Walder produced another man-of-the-match performance as Wasps strengthened their chances of reaching the quarter-finals with victory over a determined Edinburgh side.

Walder scored all of Wasps' points with a try and faultless kicking display to set up a pivotal showdown with Pool Two leaders Leinster at Twickenham on January 17. Edinburgh had snatched a narrow 8-7 half-time lead with a slick try from Hugo Southwell and penalty from Phil Godman but Wasps sealed their third Heineken Cup victory of the campaign on the back of Walder's dead-eye boot.

Walder, who took the star man honours in Wasps' recent Guinness Premiership win over Newcastle, started at fly-half after Danny Cipriani spent the week fighting off a stomach bug and took just 12 minutes to stamp his mark on the game with the opening try. Edinburgh centre Nick De Luca slipped at the crucial moment as he attempted to clear and after Wasps had built the pressure, Walder straightened between two forwards and fended off scrum-half Mike Blair to score.

In the dour victory over Edinburgh last weekend Wasps kicked every time they had possession in their own half. Today their gameplan was more ambitious and Van Gisbergen was in a lively mood, running the ball dangerously from full-back and linking well with Josh Lewsey.

Wasps earned a kickable penalty but turned down a chance to go for the posts when Eoin Reddan opted for the quick tap but he ran down a blind alley and Edinburgh closed ranks to snuff out the chance. A jinking run from Edinburgh fly-half Phil Godman earned Edinburgh their first attacking platform and although Wasps snatched the turnover and Van Gisbergen cleared, Edinburgh's tails were up.

From a lineout on halfway, Godman spun a perfectly weighted pass which allowed Ben Cairns to hit the gap outside Waldouck and then send Southwell over for the try. The visitors almost caught Wasps cold when Blair fired a long-range penalty towards the corner and sparked a foot-race to the ball which the retreating Lewsey won just ahead of Webster.

The Scotland winger was denied again when Godman's chip through the Wasps' defensive ranks dribbled dead. Wasps made their first change when Van Gisbergen was floored as he attempted a tackle on De Luca and Lachlan Mitchell was sent on at full-back.

Lewsey spotted the gap and cut past Edinburgh hooker Andrew Kelly before aiming a kick for Sackey to chase into the corner. The ball bounced dead and Sackey careered straight into the television camera. Edinburgh took the lead just before the interval with a penalty from Godman but Walder struck back with two successful shots at goal early in the second half as Wasps began to pull clear.

Waldouck was replaced at the interval by Cipriani, who had not looked in prime health as he patrolled the touchline during the opening half but lined up at inside centre. Walder added a third after referee George Clancy had played an extensive advantage to Wasps, which prompted furious Edinburgh coach Andy Robinson to march out of the stands and berate the fourth official.

Phil Vickery, Simon Shaw and James Haskell all tried to set Wasps in motion with powerful runs but the game degenerated into the dire kick-tennis that marred last weekend's Murrayfield clash. Replacement David Blair reduced the arrears for Edinburgh but Walder applied the finishing touch with his fourth penalty of the afternoon.

Director of rugby Ian McGeechan declared Wasps had put themselves "back in the competition" with consecutive Heineken Cup victories over Edinburgh. "We are back in the competition and that is the most important thing for us at this stage," said McGeechan. "Edinburgh was not an easy place to go and they are not an easy side to play. We knew they would try and make a statement against us today and I thought we handled it pretty well."

McGeechan heaped particular praise on Walder, saying, "Defensively he was very good, his kicking was 100% - Danny did that last week - and he attacked the line and scored a try as well. He is playing good heads-up rugby with a lot of confidence."

Wasps head coach Shaun Edwards believes Wasps are beginning to turn their fortunes around. "Obviously we are delighted with a win. We are getting on the right side of these narrow margins now," said Edwards. "That Leinster game is almost England versus Ireland. It will be a pretty tasty match. As a unit we were pretty embarrassed with the way we performed over in Dublin (in a 41-11 defeat) and we will be pretty determined that day."

Edinburgh head coach Andy Robinson rued two "missed opportunities" against a Wasps side that have been misfiring this season. "They managed the game pretty well to win both games but you can see by the scoreline how close they have been," he said. "Last week was a missed opportunity and I thought at 8-7 if we came out and played with a bit of tempo and held onto the ball in attack we might have asked some questions of them.

"There was a lack of skill at times. We could execute our first-phase plays and we needed to do that to put Wasps under pressure. We scored one good try with a great line from Ben Cairns, which I was really pleased with, but we never threatened after that and our accuracy wasn't good enough."

London Wasps: M van Gisbergen (L Mitchell 35), P Sackey, D Waldouck (D Cipriani 41), J Lewsey, T Voyce, D Walder, E Reddan (J Simpson 73), T Payne, R Webber, P Vickery [capt], S Shaw, R Birkett (G Skivington 51), S Betsen (J Worsley 61), T Rees, J Haskell

Edinburgh: H Southwell, M Robertson, B Cairns, N De Luca (J Houston 73), S Webster, P Godman (D Blair 53), M Blair [capt] (G Laidlaw 73), A Jacobsen, A Kelly (S Lawrie 73), G Cross (G Kerr 52), C Hamilton, J Hamilton, S Newlands, A MacDonald (S Cross 73), A Hogg (M Mustchin 59)

Man of the Match: D Walder (London Wasps)

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

Attendance: 7,596