One of the most inexcusable misses of all time from Brandon Thomson, when he had the simplest of chances to win the match, consigned the Warriors to yet another defeat.
An early score which had the traits of Tommy Seymour from the Dragons put them into the lead, Jared Rosser taking the ball in midfield from a line-out and weaving his way from midfield past the Glasgow defence for an excellent try.
A bustling run from Grant Stewart and sweet off-load to Kiran McDonald took Glasgow into the Dragons 22, and a tackle off the ball on McDonald as he looked to take a return pass from Glenn Bryce saw Glasgow get the penalty and Dragons’ flanker Harrison Keddie sent to the bin for its cynicism.
Glasgow went for the scrum option but they sealed off at the breakdown after Wilson went for the pick and drive off the base to lose a good attacking position.
Dragons saw another yellow card dished out to them when Jack Dixon led with the shoulder into
Glasgow went to the line, Stewart found his man and Fotu Lokotui was on hand to tuch down after the maul splintered to make an instant impact at the start of the 14-man period.
Warriors then took the lead with a well taken try by the semi-pro Sean Kennedy.
The former Edinburgh scrum-half was on the shoulder of the brick-Portaloo Nick Grigg as he burst through the tackle into the 22 for a quick 10-point gain and a Glasgow lead.
Nico Matawalu tried to smuggle through for another score, but no further scoreboard damage occurred.
Half-time: Glasgow Warriors 14 – 10 Dragons
Brok Harris put Dragons (who apparently aren’t allowed to be called Newport Dragons anymore) ahead again when he bundled over from close range, but Peter Horne levelled the scores in the 49th minute with a penalty to leave things evenly poised.
Sam Davies nudged Dragons in front, and then an excellent kick return from Rhodri Williams made about 30m of territory and allowed the Welsh fly-half to snap over a drop-goal and extend the lead with roughly an hour played.
Lee Jones then saw a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on and Ratu Tagive was lucky not to follow in him for a tackle in the air.
You would imagine that the Warriors had watched the earlier international match, so daft indiscipline is unforgivable in this circumstance.
A rapid set of turnovers saw Nick Grigg put boot to ball, which was as weird to watch as it sounds, but it was a solid kick with Warriors down to 14 and territory being vital with under 10mins to go.
Rhodri Williams blinked first in the kick battle, his boot out on the full giving Glasgow the line-out in the Dragons’ half, and then a high tackle on Brandon Thomson went to touch.
Replacement hooker Jonny Matthews found Ryan Wilson, the maul was dragged down illegally, and Glasgow had the penalty with only 4mins remaining and centre-field position.
6-points down and 4mins left, do you go for the line or the scrum from 5m?
Glasgow went for the line and made an absolute arse of it. Matthews overthrew.
Dragons cleared but only just to outside the 22. Glasgow kept on bustling. Penalty advantage was fine, but with a 6-point deficit they needed a converted score to take the win.
After mountains of pressure, Jonny Matthews took advantage of a tired and staggered Dragons’ defence to burst over in the 82nd minute.
Brandon Thomson’s attempt at the conversion is simply inexcusable at this level. It was a tap-in. Dragons got warned for encroaching before his run, so he had a second go.
And he screwed it. He hit the far-side post. It would have been easier to knock it over the East stand.
SRBlog POTM: Glenn Bryce. Too raging to explain why.
Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU)