NEWPORT Gwent Dragons' winless Welsh derby streak away from Rodney Parade was stretched to 13 games after they were beaten 26-13 by the Scarlets in a dour encounter in Llanelli.

The West Walians were comfortable victors in a drab game between two unimpressive, underfunded sides that, unlike Leinster versus Munster, did little to suggest the Guinness Pro12 is a real rival to the Aviva Premiership and Top 14.

There was plenty of optimism at Rodney Parade in pre-season but so far the campaign has been grim, as bad as anything served up over many underwhelming years.

Granted, the Dragons have been hard hit by injury but it was only the ineptitude of the Scarlets that prevented an almighty drubbing.

At one stage the big screen showed director of rugby Lyn Jones with his head in his hands but at the minute Dragons fans are watching the action with their hands over their eyes.

They did pretty well up front but, once again, were bereft of ideas behind and made far, far too many mistakes.

Not many Dragons fans travelled to Llanelli, perhaps because of their shocking derby record on the road.

Their last derby win away from Rodney Parade came against the Ospreys in October, 2010 while their last 11 league encounters in Llanelli, Cardiff and Swansea have yielded just two points.

The aim of the season remains to avoid the ignominy of being bottom region, an unwanted tag that they have endured for eight of 11 campaigns. They remain above Cardiff Blues yet it was a pretty deflating afternoon out west that suggests it may not stay that way.

The Dragons made a good start and led 3-0 thanks to a Jason Tovey penalty earned by a super scrum but they were up against it with a quarter gone after being hit by 13 unanswered Scarlets points.

Rhys Priestland banged over a pair of penalties and then Gareth Owen went over to save the blushes of wing Harry Robinson, who should have gone the length just seconds earlier after intercepting Taulupe Faletau’s pass but was caught by scrum-half Jonathan Evans.

The Dragons were left to rue a poor clearance box kick, which allowed Liam Williams to burst through, and a missed tackle by wing Aled Brew on Scott Williams before the Wales centre put his midfield partner under the sticks.

The visitors trailed 13-3 and were hit by their midfield injury curse with Ben John, who had joined on loan from the Ospreys to cover for absent centres Pat Leach, Tyler Morgan, Jack Dixon and Ross Wardle, was forced off with an ice pack then strapped to his left hamstring.

The Dragons had already suffered a blow before kick-off when captain Lee Byrne was ruled out with a back niggle and John’s injury meant full-back Tom Prydie had to slot in next to Ashley Smith.

The changes didn’t help the Dragons to find their rhythm in a scrappy, error-strewn encounter and it remained 13-3 at the break, but not before a controversial moment involving rivals for the Wales 15 jersey.

Jonathan Evans put up a box kick that in a sense was too perfect, enabling Dragons wing Hallam Amos to compete with Scarlets full-back Liam Williams.

The home man got their first but was brought crashing to the ground, leading to fears of a card for the Dragons man.

A spate of recent incidents have seen yellow and red brandished but Irish official George Clancy deemed that the challenge was fair, that it was just caused by neither man wavering in their commitment to the catch.

The first score after the resumption was going to be crucial – and the Scarlets were in a wasteful mood.

They wasted a trio of golden chances only to be repelled by a Nic Cudd jackal on his goalline, an Amos interception on the left and a misplaced Priestland pass after he exploited tighthead Dan Way in midfield.

The sloppy Dragons were lucky to still be in touch, though their tenacity in defence had to be applauded.

The Scarlets reward for a quarter of almost constant attack was another Priestland penalty to make it 16-3 yet Tovey responded with another penalty earned at the set piece.

However, the game was secured when the Dragons spilt the ball in midfield, Owen hacked on and wing Kristian Phillips won the race with Tovey to touchdown.

Priestland converted to make it 23-6 before Dragons scrum-half Richie Rees scored a consolation after an impressive driving lineout by the visitors.

It didn’t mask yet another grim derby display.