BERNARD Jackman admits the Dragons have given themselves a mountain to climb if they are to emerge from their daunting group in the European Challenge Cup.

A costly 35-21 loss to Northampton at Rodney Parade leaves them needing to win away to either the Saints or French giants Clermont Auvergne in December to stand a chance of sneaking out of Pool One.

The defeat to the English side came after a shocking start with the visitors scoring a pair of early tries in Newport through lock David Ribbans and scrum-half Alex Mitchell.

The Saints' driving lineout earned a penalty try approaching half-time – and resulted in yellow cards for lock Lewis Evans and wing Adam Warren – and they had their bonus in the bag with 48 minutes on the clock.

The Dragons rallied with scores from hooker Elliot Dee and centre Jarryd Sage plus a penalty try at the death, but Jackman knows they now have their work cut out to grab one of the best runners-up spots in the last eight.

"It's going to be tough now," said the head coach, whose side return to PRO14 action at Ulster on Friday. "We need to beat Clermont at home (in January) and go to Saints – we have made it hard for ourselves.

"I'm really frustrated with our first-half performance. We knew that we couldn't give Northampton set-piece opportunities in the 22 and from the very start we kicked the kick-off to their pod, they got momentum from that.

"We didn't deal with the high ball twice and then gave away a soft penalty on the halfway line that Biggar kicked to the five-metre line and they scored.

"We backed it up with a defensive error for an easy try from their own half then in the 31st minute we defended well in the 22 to get a scrum, but then we gave a scrum penalty away on our own ball that they kicked to the corner and that led to two boys being sin-binned.

"You can't give these big English teams, or Clermont, that many set piece opportunities in your 22.

"I thought the boys managed the last period with 13 men well, dug in for each other and when we got back to 15 we went at them and played some good rugby.

"But when you are chasing the game like that they only need one breakaway score and you lose your chance."

"Across the board we weren't as good as we needed to be and that is a big disappointment," he continued.

"The only pleasing thing was that the boys showed real heart and courage. That's important but we need to fix the tactical and technical issues that let us down."

The Dragons' horror start allowed the Saints to take control and subdue the home section of the 4,634 Rodney Parade crowd.

"Our job is to make sure our level of performance engages them and makes sure they are active in the game, because they do want to give, they are incredible," said Jackman.

"I can understand the way the game was going that we didn't give them enough to cheer. That happens in games and we need to make sure it doesn't happen very often."

Fly-half Josh Lewis also copped some flak from the stands after a nightmare start in which he kicked a pair of penalties dead and put a restart out on the full. Full-back Jordan Williams then took over.

"It's not ideal but we are lucky that we have got passionate fans who have been with us through thick and thin," said Jackman.

"They will voice their opinion and that's just part of it; pro rugby players have to take it, we can't let that affect us.

"It's not always a bed of roses and if going through a bad patch, he is not the first 10 to not get the support of the crowd and it's a good test for anyone to come through the other side of it."