Chris Paterson contributed three penalties to the Edinburgh cause, but it was not enough to prevent Newport Gwent Dragons from narrowly winning 11-9 at Rodney Parade.

Two penalties from Shaun Connor and a try from Richard Fussell gave the Dragons the upper hand and the home side withstood wave after wave of Edinburgh attack to keep the visitors at bay.

After taking the lead through Paterson as early as the fourth minute with a successful penalty, Edinburgh then found themselves trailing by eight points as Newport cranked up the pressure on what proved to be an incredibly frustrating night for everyone with Black and Red sympathies.

An alarmingly high error count plagued Edinburgh throughout the match and the men in Black and Red were unable to generate any serious momentum moving forward.

Allan Jacobsen, making his 200th appearance for the club, played well as Edinburgh dominated the scrum, but, without influential captain Mike Blair, were unable to execute their backs moves.

Andrew Turnbull thought he had cored a legitimate try, but it was chalked off by referee Peter Fitzgibbon because of a forward pass by Hugo Southwell. 

Despite all the mistakes and below-par displays, Edinburgh could have still snatched a win right at the end, but replacement David Blair's drop-goal attempt was not on target.

Edinburgh: Chris Paterson, Andrew Turnbull, Hugo Southwell, Nick De Luca, Mark Robertson, Phil Godman, Greig Laidlaw; Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Craig Hamilton, Jim Hamilton, Matt Mustchin, Alan MacDonald, Allister Hogg (captain)
 
Substitutes: Andrew Kelly (for Ford 70), Gavin Kerr, Ben Gissing (for J Hamilton 60), Scott Newlands, Ben Meyer (for Laidlaw 65), David Blair (for Godman 70), Jim Thompson (for Turnbull 50).

Attendance: 4, 656