BERNARD Jackman believes the Dragons’ battling draw with Guinness PRO14 title contenders Glasgow shows they are getting fitter and more mentally tough but slammed their aimless kicking for making it necessary to dig deep.

The Rodney Parade region shared the spoils 15-15 after two Warriors tries were sandwiched by scores by hooker Liam Belcher and wing Jared Rosser.

The Dragons were under the pump for much of the second half but neither side added to their tally.

It meant that the region became only the second side to avoid a league defeat to the Conference A leaders, who were without a raft of Scotland internationals but hammered the Ospreys 47-6 in Swansea during the autumn series.

“It’s a game that we easily could have lost and we could have won as well,” said head coach Jackman, whose side sit one from bottom in Conference B with just 16 points from 14 games.

“It’s a second home draw of the season (after Ulster in December), which is obviously frustrating, but I am massively happy with our effort.

“They are the top team in both conferences by a long way and even though they are missing players they are well organised and have a lot pace and power everywhere.

“I thought that we dealt with that reasonably well but the problem was that we had to keep defending for effort on effort, defending for 12 or 13 phases to get a turnover and just kicked it down their throats.

“That should have hurt us but thankfully we are getting fitting and our mental resilience is getting better, so we were able to hold them out.

“That’s a big improvement on earlier in the year when any time anybody got a bit of pressure, possession and territory we would crack, so that’s a big step forward.”

Jackman slammed the Dragons restart work – “our chase from kick-off was pathetic, we just gave them such easy exits” – but is confident that they can record their first league win since September in a streak of fixtures against Benetton Treviso in Newport, Edinburgh in Ebbw Vale and Southern Kings in South Africa.

“I think that we are on the right track, we played Glasgow in Ebbw Vale in a friendly and shipped 40 points and looked like a pub team,” said the head coach.

“If we can lock horns with the best in the league then we’ve got a run of fixtures with Treviso on Sunday that we need to attack with real ambition, then Edinburgh in Ebbw Vale then we go to the Kings.

“I think that we have turned the corner in terms of how organised and fit we are. Hopefully we will start to pick up a lot of points over the next six weeks.”

The Dragons are hopeful of having Ashton Hewitt back from a foot injury for the clash with the Italians.