HEROISM so nearly catapulted Gloucester above their increasingly-impressive par under Nigel Davies.
In the end stoicism and pinpoint accuracy won out, leaving Gloucester frustrated with another losing bonus-point against a top-end Premiership power.
But few teams push Leicester to such a limit in their near-impenetrable citadel.
Sione Kalamafoni, Matt Cox, Shane Monahan and Dan Robson produced a superhero strike move at the death, the game's most compelling attacking play.
The reason Gloucester failed to scale the city walls had little to do with that final, fruitless assault, though.
Ultimately Leicester's superlative back-three play and their all-conquering scrum saw them home.
Geordan Murphy's flawless tactical kicking teased and tested Gloucester all afternoon.
But yet more pivotal than that was the way he marshalled Leicester's backfield when the Tigers were without the ball.
The canny Irishman cajoled and bossed Niall Morris and Adam Thompstone around the Welford Road turf, while he stalked down anything heading his way.
The effect was almost total shutdown – only once all day were Gloucester able to turn the Tigers with a line kick.
And even then there proved no reward on the score front.
Instead Murphy and Co forced one error from the Cherry and Whites – and that was enough for victory.
Few exploit dog-leg kick-chases better than Freddie Burns.
But the 22-year-old playmaker still has the tendency to raid down a blind alley.
Usually he digs himself out of any holes, and he should definitely keep pushing the counter-attacking envelope.
The Tigers knew all this, and punished Gloucester's love of free-running without mercy.
Hassled and hurried after one dangerous high bomb, Burns had a half-second to clear.
But having been charged down in the first half, maybe he thought twice.
Trying to force a running raid, he threw out a pass to Billy Twelvetrees.
The former Leicester pivot could not hold at full stretch, and the Tigers pounced.
Greedy Manu Tuilagi nearly botched things refusing a try-scoring pass, but then Ben Youngs sent Anthony Allen into the right corner for the game's only – and decisive – try.
Battered in the scrum, dominated territorially and tactically – Gloucester still stayed in this game, to their eternal credit.
Fast passing from Kalamafoni and Cox sent Monahan careering from one 22 to the other.
Nimble half-back Robson made a fool of lumbering Logovi'i Mulipola, crashing to the Tigers whitewash.
Gloucester slugged through the tight phases, winning a penalty.
A cross-field move failed to catch out the Tigers, and the home side wound up with a five-metre scrum.
Somehow the Cherry and Whites wangled a scrum penalty, and once again the try-line assault became a wave of tight drives.
Just as Gloucester primed themselves to steal the game, though, Leicester stole the ball.
Ben Youngs booted to touch, and that was that.
Gloucester's only other try-scoring chance came when Burns fly-hacked deep into the Tigers' 22 after a loose Leicester pass.
George Ford killed the ball after Burns recovered, and the opportunity evaporated.
The Leicester fly-half was sin-binned for his cynical indiscretion, one of four yellow cards on the night.
Shaun Knight was sent packing in the first-half after three troublesome scrums.
Referee Andrew Small set a precedent he could not sustain, and Gloucester escaped more first-half scrum censure – much to the chagrin of Richard Cockerill, complete with waving arms, barking voice and steam rising from head.
Leicester's scrum-half Youngs was sin-binned at the tail-end of the first-half, for killing the ball.
And Gloucester turned around 6-3 ahead after a cagey 40 minutes.
Ford's yellow card offered hope for Gloucester, just as Youngs returned.
But then came that Allen try.
Will James then completed the quartet of sin-bins by illegally breaking up a maul.
In the driving rain, none of those censures seemed to matter, as both sides battered each other with hugely-determined defence.
Davies was not particularly impressed with Gloucester's performance. Should the Cherry and Whites really be able to improve as he hopes, they will certainly be in a play-off fight.
Losing bonus-points at Harlequins, Saracens and now Leicester indicate just how far the Kingsholm men have progressed this term.
It is a par position that was just a dream at the end of last season.
The Cherry and Whites turn into 2013 in a position of strength.
Not just relative to last season's near-shambles, but even in the context of the Davies revolution.
When the former Wales centre arrived in the summer, the words top and four were only furtively employed in the same sentence.
The savvy, shrewd new Gloucester boss' first real test was to restore Kingsholm's even keel.
A top-six finish this term and a Heineken Cup berth next would represent strong progress.
Even that in the summer was a challenge.
Now, though, there is a real opportunity to strike for a play-off battle.
After this engaging and sometimes grinding battle, several Leicester players whispered that Gloucester seem to have overtaken Northampton.
That's a huge compliment, wrapped up in a cheeky swipe at their East Midlands rivals the Saints.
The Cherry and Whites will not let it go to their heads, though, as they know their trip to Franklin's Gardens on Saturday, February 9 could determine their play-off credentials.
Gloucester nearly jumped above the new Davies par at the death, but despite the stirring crescendo, there was still a slight feeling of anti-climax.
Harness that, and this campaign could just bear some seriously impressive fruit.
LEICESTER TIGERS: G Murphy, N Morris, M Tuilagi, A Allen, A Thompstone, G Ford, B Youngs, M Ayerza (L Mulipola, 59), T Youngs (G Chuter, 75), D Cole (M Castrogiovanni, 59), L Deacon (capt), G Parling, B Deacon (S Mafi, 49), J Salvi, J Crane. Unused: E Slater, S Harrison, D Bowden, M Smith.
REFEREE: A Small.
ATTENDANCE: 24,000
