The electronic promotion for this fixture featured an email with the sound of water gurgling down a plughole, but it was a joke which backfired badly on the Falcons.
Indeed, ominously for the home side this defeat means they have lost to the three teams below them in the Zurich Premiership in successive weeks, London Irish and Bristol having also beaten them.
International call-ups took their toll on both sides. Newcastle sorely missed Jonny Wilkinson, but that is no excuse for the lethargic first-half performance that his team-mates turned in.
Bath took full advantage although they had to hang on at the end and at times their fragile confidence looked set to shatter. But this result brings the first back-to-back wins for the club since the end of the 2001 season.
The visitors enjoyed an ideal start when in the second minute their scrum-half Andy Williams made an angled run to split the Newcastle cover for the opening try.
After half an hour Bath scored their second when the wing Tom Voyce cruised in. With first Matt Perry and then the replacement Chris Malone contributing 14 points, the visitors had a healthy total at half-time. Newcastle could consider themselves lucky to have collected a dozen points - three Earl Va'a penalties and a Tom May drop goal - given the paucity of their efforts.
But Newcastle rallied and Bath were struck with a dose of the jitters. However, a Va'a penalty and a try on the hour for Joe Shaw was as near as the home side came to taking the lead.
· Harlequins recorded their fourth league victory, beating Wasps 27-14 at The Stoop.
Newcastle: Shaw; Botham, Noon, May, Stephenson; Va'a, Charlton; Ward (Peel, 31), Makin (Thompson, h-t), Hurter (Ward, 72), Vyvyan (capt), Hamilton, Taione, Devonshire (Dowson, 48), Dunbar. Try: Shaw. Pens: Va'a 4. Drop goal: May
Bath: Perry (Thirlby, 74); Danielli, Davey, Crockett, Voyce; Catt (Malone, 15), Williams (Blake, 61); Barnes, Humphreys (capt), Mallett (Galasso, 55), Borthwick, Lyle (Grewcock, 55), Scaysbrook, Beattie (Lloyd, 77), Thomas.
Tries: Williams, Voyce. Con: Malone. Pens: Perry 2, Malone 2.
Referee: A Rowden (Berkshire).
Attendance: 4,532.
