Dragons opened the pre-season campaign with a confidence boosting 20-19 victory over Ospreys at Rodney Parade.
Wing Ewan Rosser and Number Eight Ollie Griffiths grabbed first half tries as a youthful Dragons line-up impressed and took a 14-7 lead at the interval.
An even second half saw Ospreys fight back but the boot of Cai Evans – against his former club – and Will Reed ultimately proved vital as the Men of Gwent ground out a narrow win on home soil.
Dragons used 28 players in the fixture as boss Dai Flanagan looked to give his squad game time with the new league season less than a month away.
And he will have been encouraged by the spirit and endeavour on show while knowing there will be much to work on before the away trip to Scarlets next Friday evening.
Back on home soil after 210 days, Ospreys enjoyed early territory and possession before a floated pass was picked off by speedster Rosser who streaked away from Keelan Giles to score.
Argentine front row Rodrigo Martinez endeared himself to the home support with several early big chop tackles while Brodie Coghlan and George Nott were also busy in defence.
Cai Evans showed composed touches as he ran from deep and his long-range touch finder eased pressure after Joe Westwood forced spilled ball with a big tackle under his own posts.
Griffiths snatched his first turnover of the season with the resulting penalty handing Dragons a first real attacking platform.
And the Number Eight grabbed the second try of the game as, after patient forward play, he brushed off a tackle and burst under the sticks for a 14-0 lead.
Dragons were working hard in defence to disrupt Ospreys and force mistakes, but the visitors did strike back on the half hour mark as Owen Watkin broke clear and sent Jack Walsh under the posts.
Another barnstorming run from Griffiths in midfield this time sent Westwood into space before a deliberate knock on allowed Reed to kick to the corner.
Late pressure from Ospreys saw them also take a penalty to the corner, only for the lineout to be stolen before Rhodri Williams thundered a kick up to halfway.
Dragons made eight changes at the break to give players vital game time while Ospreys also started to roll out the replacements.
Another raft of changes seemed to spark life into the home side as Harri Keddie and James Benjamin combined before Evans kicked in behind as the Men of Gwent forced a penalty.
Rhodri Williams came back on for Lewis Jones - after he took a knock - and the scrum half immediately produced a stunning 50:22 as Dragons continued to try and pin the visitors in.
Dragons extended the lead to two scores just after the hour as Evans slotted a simple three after Ospreys failed to roll away.
Ospreys, though, hit back three minutes later as Max Nagy took advantage of numbers on the right to glide over with Walsh adding the extras.
Another three points, this time from Reed, nudged Dragons into a 20-14 lead with nine minutes left.
The visitors looked to hit the front for the first time with five on the clock when replacement hooker Lewis Lloyd went over.
But Walsh made a mess of his conversion to leave Ospreys trailing by one. In a frantic finale, a charged down kick almost fell kindly for Bradley Roberts before Jack Dixon and Roberts produced vital late turnovers after Ospreys broke up field to end the contest.
Timeline:
04m E. Rosser t Reed c 7-0
18m Griffiths t Reed c 14-0
30m Walsh t Edwards c 14-7
64m Evans p 17-7
67m Nagy t Walsh c 17-14
71m Reed p 20-14
75m Lloyd t 20-19
Dragons RFC: Cai Evans (E. Rosser 66), Ewan Rosser (J Rosser 40), Joe Westwood (Tomkinson 58), Aneurin Owen (Dixon 58), Oli Andrew (Baldwin 58), Will Reed ((Hughes 40 (Reed 65)), Rhodri Williams (R. Jones 40); Rodrigo Martinez ((L. Jones 40- Williams 54)), Brodie Coghlan (Benjamin 40 (Roberts 65)), Chris Coleman (Evans 40), Joe Davies, Barny Langton (Carter 40), George Nott (Lonsdale 58), George Young, Ollie Griffiths (Keddie 40)
Replacements: Bradley Roberts, James Benjamin, Rhodri Jones, Nathan Evans, Ben Carter, Sean Lonsdale, Harri Keddie, Lewis Jones, Corey Baldwin, Jack Dixon, Steff Hughes, Sio Tomkinson, Jared Rosser
Ospreys: Jack Walsh, Mat Protheroe, Owen Watkin, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles, Dan Edwards, Luke Davies; Garyn Phillips, Ethan Lewis, Ben Warren, Rhys Davies, Huw Sutton, James Ratti, Harri Deaves, Morgan Morris
Replacements: Rhys Henry, Lewis Lloyd, Tom Botha, James Fender, Lewis Jones, Tristan Davies, Morgan Morse, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Cam Jones, Luke Scully, Dom Morris, Luke Morgan, Max Nagy, Toby Fricker
Referee: Ben Breakspear
Attendance: 4,670 tickets issued
