THE Dragons upset the odds with a 23-22 Guinness PRO14 win in Glasgow after drama at the death.

Shoulder slumped when replacement hooker Johnny Matthews reached over with the clock in the red but, with shades of the famous 1968 Wembley miss by Don Fox, the conversion by Brandon Thomson just to the right of the posts was missed.

Four points was no less than the Dragons deserved, winning at Scotstoun Stadium for the first time since Jason Tovey’s full house in November 2013.

It was their first away win outside Italy since 2015 and backed up last week’s success at Benetton – not since 2012 had they triumphed in successive fixtures on the road.

Not only was it a hard-fought victory but it was an excellent performance ahead of tough Champions Cup encounters with Wasps and Bordeaux-Begles and the best away display under Dean Ryan.

They were controlled, savvy, slick with starter plays with there was a nice attacking balance and determination in defence.

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The half-backs ran the show, tighthead Aaron Jarvis put in a huge shift and it was a mightily impressive full debut by lock Ben Carter, who isn’t 20 until January.

Back rower Ollie Griffiths was also superb, but that’s to be expected, and Jamie Roberts made some telling contributions.

There was plenty to admire in the Dragons’ first-half display but they paid the price for playing 20 minutes of it with 14 men.

They absorbed a yellow card shown to blindside Harri Keddie for an early tackle but were punished by the second for centre Jack Dixon after a no-arms hit.

The Dragons showed the same control that had earned a win in Treviso to go into a 10-0 lead.

They struck first with another slick starter play with wing Jared Rosser racing over from Sam Davies’ inside ball off quick lineout ball.

The fly-half converted and then added a penalty after the Dragons had gone close in the 22, Keddie on the charge and then Ashton Hewitt close to darting over in the left corner with penalty advantage.

Glasgow won a penalty on the half hour and were set to go for the posts before the TMO alerted Irish referee Chris Busby to a shoulder charge by Dixon.

The Warriors went to the corner for flanker Fotu Lokotui to rumble over and they made it a quickfire double when centre Nick Grigg burst through and put scrum-half Sean Kennedy over.

The Dragons trailed 14-10 at the break and needed to avoid Mr Busby going to his pocket if they were to cause an upset.

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They made a strong start with a scrum penalty that earned a five-metre lineout and then another penalty.

The lineout drive was disrupted but the Dragons stayed calm to hammer away before loosehead Brok Harris powered over.

Davies converted for a 17-14 lead and then traded penalties with Peter Horne before a superb drop goal after a burst by half-back partner Rhodri Williams earned a six-point advantage entering the final quarter.

As they had against Benetton, the Dragons were playing in the right parts of the field and their hopes of back-to-back away wins were lifted when home wing Lee Jones was shown yellow for a deliberate knock-on.

The other Warriors speedster Ratu Tagive was fortunate not to join him on the naughty step after an early tackle on the jumping Rosser – Niko Matawulu committed a similar offence without sanction in the first half – and the home side limited the damage until they were back to 15.

That allowed them to go for the kill at the death, going to the corner with successive penalties only for an overthrown lineout to gift the Dragons an escape.

Glasgow: G Bryce, L Jones, N Grigg, R Fergusson, N Matawalu, P Horne, S Kennedy, A Seiuli, G Steward, E Pieretto, L Bean, K McDonald, R Harley, F Lokotui, R Wilson (captain). Replacements: J Matthews, A Allan, D Rae, H Bain, TJ Ioane, J Dobie, B Thomson, R Tagive.
Scorers: tries – Lokotui, Kennedy, Matthews; conversions - Horne (2); penalty - Horne

Dragons: J Lewis, J Rosser, J Dixon (N Tompkins 56), J Roberts, A Hewitt, S Davies, R Williams (captain), B Harris (C Magure 61), E Shipp (R Hibbard 56), A Jarvis, B Carter (J Maksymiw 56), M Screech, H Keddie, T Basham, O Griffiths.
Scorers: tries – J Rosser, B Harris; conversions – S Davies (2); penalties – S Davies (2); drop goal – S Davies

Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
 

But there was agony at the death when Matthews barged over from a quick tap – and then ecstasy when Thomson rushed his conversion.