NEWPORT Gwent Dragons ended their drought in the Guinness Pro12 but had to settle for a losing bonus point after a spirited display at title hopefuls Glasgow.

The Rodney Parade region were beaten 19-15 at Scotstoun Stadium but deservedly headed home with something to show for their efforts after an abrasive defensive performance.

The Dragons have now gone three Pro12 games without a try but went toe-to-toe with one of the favourites for the title and dug deep for a consolation despite being hammered at the scrum.

It was a dramatic improvement on the meek display that saw them booed off by their own fans following a 38-12 home defeat to Munster.

The Dragons had gone two calendar months without recording a Pro12 point and winless Treviso are the only club beneath them in the table after Zebre’s victory against Edinburgh on Saturday.

But the feisty performance against a top team should boost confidence ahead of a crucial month with European fixtures against Bucharest followed by league encounters with Zebre and a festive double-header with Cardiff Blues.

The Dragons made a late, if expected, change to the side that they had named on Friday.

Jason Tovey, who the team had known all week was starting, was promoted from the bench at the ground where he had scored a full house of a try, two conversions, two penalties and a drop goal in last season’s shock 23-8 win.

However, it was full-back Geraint Rhys Jones who had responsibility from the tee and he booted the visitors into a sixth-minute lead only for Scotland fly-half Duncan Weir to level straight away after prop Brok Harris was pinged at the restart.

The Dragons’ confident start belied their poor form and they were good value for a 6-3 lead after 16 minutes, Jones’ penalty ensuring they were rewarded for a patient attack in enemy territory.

The visitors had made a decent start but they suffered a blow when captain Rynard Landman was forced off with concussion assessed and errors crept into their game.

But they led 9-6 after half an hour thanks to Jones responding to a sweetly-struck Weir penalty with an excellent effort of his own.

The Warriors were looking to build up a head of steam ahead of their crunch Champions Cup double-header with Toulouse yet the only area of the game where they were troubling the Dragons was at the set piece.

The title hopefuls ended the half on the front foot, turning down the chance to level with a penalty in order to try and barge their way over for the lead.

However, the Dragons held firm, albeit with scrum-half Richie Rees sent to the sin bin after a case of mistaken identity for a breakdown offence.

That proved to be costly swiftly after the restart when full-back Jones was disrupted at the base of an attacking scrum, allowing livewire Niko Matawalu to hack downfield and race 60 metres down the other end.

Super cover by Ross Wardle denied the Fijian but the Glasgow pack earned a penalty try from the resulting scrum with Weir’s routine conversion making it 13-9.

That was swiftly followed by a fourth Jones penalty and the Dragons were back to 15 players for the cost of just four points.

Weir stretched the Warriors’ advantage to 16-12 with another penalty entering the final quarter and the visitors, who were being hammered up front, couldn’t get a foothold in the game.

The writing looked to be on the wall when the diminutive home fly-half punished another offence with three points via the right post but Jones made it five from five with eight minutes remaining to make it a four-point game.

And the Dragons were pushing for an unlikely win in the last five minutes only for the ball to slip out of centre Ross Wardle’s grasp inside the Glasgow 22.

Still the visitors applied the pressure, racking up 23 phases phases against a well-drilled Glasgow defence in a breathless three-and-a-half minute passage of play.

The Warriors stood firm and the Dragons had to be content with a consolation point.

Glasgow: P Murchie, L Jones, S Lamont (R Vernon 63), P Horne, DTH van der Merwe (C Braid 72), D Weir, N Matawalu (H Pyrgos 56), R Grant (G Reid 56), F Brown (P MacArthur 56), J Welsh, T Swinson (J Strauss 56), A Kellock (captain, J Strauss 25-31), L Nakarawa, C Fusaro (W Bordill 72), R Wilson. Replacements: P MacArthur, G Reid, Z Fagerson, J Strauss, T Holmes, H Pyrgos, C Braid, R Vernon.

Scorers: try – penalty; conversion – D Weir; penalties – D Weir (4)

Dragons: G R Jones, T Prydie, R Wardle, A Smith, M Pewtner (H Amos 72), D Jones, R Rees (J Evans 66), B Harris (P Price 61), E Dee (R Thomas 54), D Way (L Fairbrother 70), C Hill, R Landman (captain, A Coombs 17), J Thomas, N Cudd (J Benjamin 67), L Evans.

Scorers: penalties – G R Jones (5)

Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)

Argus star man: Lewis Evans