BOSS Dean Ryan was fuming that the Dragons needed to rely on a botched Glasgow conversion for victory in Scotland – accusing referee Chris Busby of missing a glut of offences in a dramatic finale.
The Rodney Parade side celebrated a famous 23-22 win at Scotstoun Stadium after Warriors fly-half Brandon Thomson hooked an effort from the tee that was just to the right of the posts.
The Dragons led courtesy of tries by Jared Rosser and Brok Harris plus 13 points from the left boot of Sam Davies but looked set for anguish when home hooker Johnny Matthews powered over with the clock in the red.
Yet Thomson's misfortune led to wild celebrations from the visitors – but that didn't stop Ryan venting his frustration at the display of novice Irish official Busby, in charge of his third PRO14 game.
The Dragons were shown two yellow cards in the first half, avoiding any damage while flanker Harri Keddie was in the sin bin for an early tackle but conceding two converted tries while centre Jack Dixon spent 10 minutes on the side for a no-arms hit.
However, Ryan was exasperated that Glasgow wings Niko Matawalu and Ratu Tagive got away with just penalties for tackling Josh Lewis and Jared Rosser respectively in the air.
The Warriors had Lee Jones sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on in the second half but the Dragons boss felt the home side got the rub of the green to allow them to have a shot at victory at the death.
"I am pretty unhappy at the application of the yellow cards, which had a big influence on the game," said Ryan.
"They got 14 points off our yellow cards, while I just don't understand the tackles in the air. The directive is quite clear, so to avoid that and make it a penalty only is not acceptable.
"And then at the end, well there just wasn't a referee for the last 15 minutes because he just ignored everything that went on.
"That put us under enormous pressure; there were knock-ons and holding-on (penalties) but nothing was given. To get through that, I thought we deserved what we got."
The Dragons now head into tough Champions Cup encounters with Wasps and Bordeaux-Begles as they return to Europe's top tier for the first time since 2011.
"We couldn't go in off a more solid performance platform," said Ryan, whose side have won three and lost three in the PRO14.
"We have tried to keep that first part of the season in perspective because we played the (traditional big three) Irish sides. We went away to Leinster with Johnny Sexton at 10 - I haven't seen that for years.
"Those games are tough at any time; that's where we are trying to get to. We said that we couldn't afford that to divert us from where we are truly at and what we have learnt.
"When playing sides who are closer to where we are at we had to show our improvements. The last two weeks we have done that."
On Saturday evening the Dragons entertain Wasps, who were beaten by Newcastle in Coventry at the weekend, and then travel to Bordeaux-Begles, who endured a late home loss to Racing 92.
Ryan has selection headaches courtesy of the return of his Wales contingent of hooker Elliot Dee, tighthead Leon Brown, back row forward Aaron Wainwright and wing/full-back Jonah Holmes.
Centre Nick Tompkins came off the bench in Glasgow after missing out on the Autumn Nations Cup finale against Italy.
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