HEAD coach Kingsley Jones has called on Newport Gwent Dragons to lick their wounds after their Ulster heartbreak and come out firing at Connacht on Thursday evening.

The Dragons were agonisingly close to winning on the road in the Guinness Pro12 for the first time this season at Kingspan Stadium on Friday.

They led from the fourth minute to the 78th only to be denied a first win in Belfast since 2008 by a Paddy Jackson penalty, the Ireland fly-half stealing the spoils 17-15 to send his side to the top of the table.

The Dragons don't have to wait long to get their frustration out of their system – on Thursday they will look to maintain their impressive home record when they welcome Connacht to Newport.

Jones expressed his pride at the bullish Belfast display and urged his players to raise themselves for the visit of another playoff contender.

"A lot of the lads are feeling a bit down and are feeling sorry for themselves," he said. "A massive effort went into that performance.

"The challenge was to turn up at a tough place to play with the right mental attitude after we disappointed the last time we were away from home (beaten 38-5 at Sale).

"You can't ask for more effort than that and I was proud to be involved with the guys; they defended manfully when down to 13 men.

"Errors in the game cost us but Monday is the time to look at them; tonight we have to pick the guys up because we have to play again on Thursday. If they take that approach in to all our games we won't be far away.

"It's a tough one to take but pity doesn't get you anything. We are pleased with the effort and performance, they've set the standard and need to do that for every game."

The Dragons scored two stunning tries through centre Adam Hughes and full-back Carl Meyer while they also displayed tenacity in defence despite a spell down to 13 men when lock Matthew Screech was sin-binned while conceding a penalty try from a driving lineout and flanker Ben White was yellow-carded for a high tackle.

"We came with real intent and purpose. When we played with ball in hand we looked a good side, our scrum stood up and our defence of the maul was excellent except for one occasion," said Jones.

"We've got to learn from our mistakes – Ulster got in a good positon to score that driving maul and there is nothing we can do about it. We know to drop the maul is a yellow card and we are down to 14 players.

"It's very difficult as a player to let the opposition score but the try was there and it's daft to do something like that. Matthew is a young guy and learning, he was excellent tonight that aside."

The Ulster game was fitted into a blank weekend following the rearrangement of the Irish province's Champions Cup clash with Oyonnax. It means the Dragons have a rapid turnaround to face a Connacht side who will profit from a weekend of rest.

"The challenge is to come in for work on Monday and be ready to do the same against Connacht at home.

We need to apply the same attitude," said Jones.

"It's no good feeling sorry for ourselves for too long, we've got to turn it around and take the positives from this to face Connacht."