NEWPORT Gwent Dragons head coach Kingsley Jones was pleased to get the job done against Bucharest last Friday but knows that the region still owe the Rodney Parade faithful.

The region went top of Pool Three of the European Rugby Challenge Cup by hammering their Romanian visitors 69-17.

It means that they have a golden shot of qualifying for the knockout stages in January but first they must concentrate on the Guinness Pro12 with four key fixtures looming.

On Sunday they host fellow strugglers Zebre and then they have away and then home fixtures with Cardiff Blues and a trip to Swansea to face the Ospreys.

The Dragons have lost four of six encounters in Newport this season with a miserable second half collapse against Munster last month resulting in the players being booed from the pitch.

"We need to perform better at home for supporters and the business," said Jones. "Bucharest was a great start towards putting right that 40 minutes against Munster and we look forward to Zebre and Cardiff Blues."

"Our season hasn't really started," he continued. "It's misfired, largely through injuries and not being able to have consistency of selection.

"We've just about got through that period and I've seen the last four weeks almost as the start of the season with having bodies fit and available.

"We've had continuity of selection and more competition in training, which brings the best out of everybody."

The Dragons bagged a maximum 10 points from their December double-header with Bucharest, showing oodles of spirit to take the spoils in Romania before finding things a tad easier on home turf.

They ran in a regional record 12 tries with flanker Nic Cudd, Wardle, wing Hallam Amos, scrum-half Jonathan Evans, Prydie (3), hooker Rhys Thomas, lock Andrew Coombs, full-back Geraint Rhys Jones and scrum-half Luc Jones getting on the scoresheet.

"It wasn't perfect but the players can take plenty of confidence from the Bucharest games," said Jones.

"The negative was that at times it was a little bit too easy and we did make errors that other teams will punish us for.

"The start of the game was poor with inaccuracies at the lineout and with an exit (that led to a Wolves try from a charge down of Jonathan Evans' clearance kick).

"That needs to improve because we can't afford to give seven-point starts at home but the players dealt with it well and responded with a really good try within a minute and 10 seconds of Bucharest dropping the restart by being direct and playing with good body height.

"Then for a 20-minute period we played some really good rugby against Bucharest, who have frustrated a lot of sides."

The win means that five points from the January encounters against Newcastle at Kingston Park and Stade Francais at Rodney Parade should be enough to secure qualification for the knockout stages but two wins would earn a home quarter-final.