Boss Dai Flanagan praised his resilient Dragons as they battled to a crucial 20-13 win over Zebre Parma in the BKT United Rugby Championship at Rodney Parade.
Tries from Aneurin Owen, Jared Rosser and Elliot Dee put the Men of Gwent in control before a late Italians fightback.
But Flanagan’s men held firm in the face of a late onslaught to take a victory that moves them off the foot of the table with five league games to go.
“The resilience pleased me the most. Think back to Edinburgh here, Cardiff here, and we couldn’t get over the line,” he stated.
“We got over the line today and that should breed confidence now.
“We are frustrated they got a bonus point, but we have a lot of games left yet and there is a bigger picture for us.
“We wanted to climb off the bottom and target some Welsh clubs above us. To do that we need to get more wins.
“There are elements of that have been quite contagious for us his season and we win a lot more games of we don’t give away the silly penalties,” he added.
“We looked in full control apart from that. It’s a step forward, it’s four points on the board and we have a lot of games left in Wales.
“We can have a better killer touch, but that comes from winning games. You have confidence then to give that extra pass.
“You see us in the bottom corner on 71 minutes when we throw a long ball over to Sean Lonsdale and get turned over. Good teams go around the corner, stay on top and force them to give away another penalty.
“To get over the line is a positive and we need to build on this.
“We have four games left in Wales and one away, and we need to put on a show for our fans.
“We are four from six at home, which is a big step forward for us, and we have two more here at Rodney Parade that we can be excited about.
“Our job is to make these players better, make this place harder to come to and that was a step forward.”
The resilience pleased me the most... We got over the line today and that should breed confidence now...
