EDINBURGH coach Andy Robinson has warned his players to cut out "silly mistakes" or face further Magners League disappointment this season.
Although, in the end, the Dragons just about deserved their second successive victory of the new Celtic ca
mpaign, Edinburgh were left to rue a series of missed opportunities as they failed to build on an impressive victory over the Scarlets.
After going down to Munster and Leinster on the opening weekends of the season, Robinson's side bounced back to defeat the Scarlets with a bonus point to boot.
But they were unable to make it two in two as the Dragons hung on in a frantic finale to secure a first home success of the season.
A single try from Richard Fussell was the difference between the sides, although both Phil Godman and David Blair had drop goal chances to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the closing minutes.
Robinson said: "I've got to give credit to the Dragons, they defended outstandingly well, especially in the final quarter. For them to avoid giving a penalty away in the last five minutes when we were on top, was a wonderful effort.
"But for us, it was a case of missed opportunities and that is disappointing.
"We had a cutting edge out wide but, having created the opportunities, we did a few silly things. And that cost us dearly.
"Whenever we had a half-break someone would knock on. It was that kind of frustrating night. On top of that, I don't think we got the structure right. But that's part of playing at this level. The Dragons fought for everything and credit to them for that. When we thought we had scored, there was a forward pass, which was rightly called. And that's the thing that we have to guard against. We have to be a bit more ruthless.
"If we had got that one score, then potentially, the game would have gone our way.
"We will certainly take a long hard look at our execution this week and at ways of preventing the opposition from playing. After a very good start, we sat back after ten minutes and allowed them to play.
"When it comes to games like today, you have to control the scoreboard. We were 11-3 down and on the ropes for a bit but we weathered that and stopped giving penalties away. But having got back into the game, we couldn't make our advantage count."
Chris Paterson set Edinburgh on their way with a sixth-minute penalty when the Dragons were penalised for dropping the scrum. At that juncture it looked an odds on certainty that the visitors would dominate the forward battle against a Dragons' pack who have struggled for much of the season to date.
Jim Hamilton was to the fore in the set piece and loose while, behind the scrum, Edinburgh looked relatively sharp and certainly untroubled by the Dragons' back division. However, within a matter of 15 minutes, the Dragons found themselves ahead courtesy of two penalties from the veteran outside half Shaun Connor.
His first was relatively straightforward, but his second was a hefty 45-metre effort after Edinburgh wing Mark Robertson was penalised for not releasing in the tackle.
Careless handling and poor execution cost Edinburgh dearly just before half time.
Having worked a wonderful position in the Dragons' half, Edinburgh thought they had bagged the first try of the game when Andrew Turnbull raced through, only for referee Peter Fitzgibbon to call them back, adjudging that Hugo Southwell's pass in the build-up had drifted forward.
Before the half time whistle had sounded, the Dragons poured salt into Edinburgh's gaping wound. Former Pontypridd wing Gareth Wyatt and full-back Phillip Dollman conjured space for wing Richard Fussell to squeeze in at the corner.
Connor missed the tricky conversion and a second Paterson penalty trimmed the Dragons' half-time lead to 11-6.
The second period was nervy and tense, with Paterson's 49th-minute kick leaving the match poised on a knife-edge at 11-9.
The Dragons enjoyed their best spell of the game around the hour mark with the impressive Fussell and the excellent Dollman going particularly close to extending their side's slender advantage.
Edinburgh could, and perhaps should, have made the hosts pay for their missed opportunities when first Godman and then replacement David Blair were wide with drop-goals.
In the end it was down to the Dragons pack to shepherd the Welsh side home, the forwards driving patiently into Edinburgh territory to keep the ball under control and to close off a much-needed win.
Robinson rung the changes in the final quarter, but not even fresh legs and ideas could prevent the visitors from slipping to a third defeat in four games.
"We have plenty of work to do this week but we are a good side and, when we manage to cut out the silly mistakes, we will start to show our true potential," added Robinson.
Scorers:
Dragons: Try: Fussell; Pens: Connor (2). Edinburgh: Pens: Paterson (3).
Dragons: Dollman; Wyatt, Sidey, Smith, Fussell; Connor (Tovey 54), Evans; Black (Gustafson 61), Willis (c), Thomas, Jones (Hall 61), Charteris, Bearman, Parks (Ringer 71), Webb.
Edinburgh: Paterson; Turnbull, Southwell, De Luca, Robertson (Thompson 49); Godman (D Blair 71), Laidlaw (Meyer 65); Jacobsen, Ford (Kelly 71), G Cross, Hamilton, Hamilton (Gissing 50), Mustchin, MacDonald, Hogg (c).
The full article contains 912 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
